Kelso

Sister cities

• Kelso

History

The earliest known inhabitants of the area were the Cowlitz people, part of the Sahaptin and Salish people. About 6,000 Cowlitz were living in longhouses in villages along the Cowlitz River in 1855. The Cowlitz Tribe met with others at the Chehalis River Treaty Council in 1855 and declined to sign a treaty with the Washington Territory which would have required them to move away to a reservation. Many remained in the area until the tribe received federal recognition: its current headquarters is in nearby Longview. Kelso was founded by Peter W. Crawford, a Scottish surveyor, who, in 1847, took up the first donation land claim on the lower Cowlitz River. Crawford platted a townsite which he named after his home town of Kelso, Scotland. The original plat was dated and filed in October 1884. It became incorporated in 1889. In its early days, Kelso obtained the nickname "Little Chicago" as it became famous for its large number of taverns and brothels that catered to local loggers. On weekends, trainloads of loggers would come into town from the surrounding region looking for women, liquor, gambling and fights. The FBI finally forced the mayor to shut them down in the 1950s, with the last tavern/brothel closing in the mid-1960s. The economy continues to be based largely on wood products. In the late 19th century and into the first part of the 20th century, Kelso was the center for commercial smelt fishing on the Cowlitz River. In 1910, according to the Oregonian Newspaper, 5,000 tons of fish were caught. The Kelso Chamber of Commerce created the slogan in 1956 and became known as the Smelt Capital of the World. The Cowlitz River has historically had heavy runs of smelt and were shipped to markets around the country. Smelt numbers have declined significantly in the past…

Geography

Kelso is mostly situated on the east side of the Cowlitz River near the Columbia River, opposite from its twin city of Longview on the west bank. It includes a small section west of the river, West Kelso. It is located on Interstate 5 approximately north of Portland, Oregon, and south of Seattle. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. The Columbia, Cowlitz, and Coweeman rivers were used as part of a historical transportation route from Portland, Oregon, to the Puget Sound. Cowlitz steamboats were used as a mode of transportation until 1918. * Aldercrest * Butler Acres * Davis Terrace * East Kelso * Hilltop * Lexington * Mt. Brynion * Mt Pleasant * North Kelso * Old Kelso Hill * Rose Valley * South Kelso * West Kelso

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  9,199
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  8,014
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  7,567
• Steller's Jay

  Cyanocitta stelleri (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  7,488
• Spotted Towhee

  Pipilo maculatus Swainson, 1827 · Aves
  5,786
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  5,773
• Golden-crowned Sparrow

  Zonotrichia atricapilla (J.F.Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  5,666
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  5,656

Most recent

• M 3.75 — 2026-09-05
  20 km E of Castle Rock, Washington
• M 2.61 — 2026-07-31
  18 km NE of Amboy, Washington
• M 2.52 — 2026-03-17
  7 km SE of Mineral, Washington
• M 2.65 — 2025-12-19
  5 km WSW of Pe Ell, Washington
• M 2.84 — 2025-09-13
  3 km NE of Mineral, Washington
• M 2.66 — 2025-06-16
  7 km ESE of Mossyrock, Washington