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Kelso, Washington

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1921 and the latest in 1990. It stands in the Longview-Kelso census division. It lies in ZIP code area 98626. The Survey maps it on the Kelso quadrangle. 12,720 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 75 feet above sea level.

Kelso within Cowlitz County

On record in Kelso

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 3 records

Population over time

2 figures

Kelso grew from 11,925 to 12,720 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
201011,925
202012,720+795 (+7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 11 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

128 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 128 fires within 5 miles of Kelso between 1992 and 2020, burning about 141 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 3 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning45
Missing data/not specified/undetermined31
Recreation and ceremony21
Other causes7
Railroad operations and maintenance6
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Fireworks4
Arson/incendiarism3
Equipment and vehicle use2
Natural2
Smoking2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersMILL STREET
6 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersOWL CREEK
4 September 2009Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersMT. BRYNION RD
28 September 2016Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreOregon Department of Forestry Salem HeadquartersHARBOR VIEW DR. #1
25 September 1998Debris and open burningunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
23 September 1992Naturalunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
20 September 2001Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
13 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersROCKY POINT

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Cowlitz County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 32 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 32 workings within 5 miles of Kelso: 24 past producers, 5 producers, 2 occurrences, 1 plant. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Aluminum, Stone, Dimension. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
(Facility) Longview Aluminum SmelterAluminum, Contained or MetalPlant
Grady QuarryStonePast Producer
Mount 5640 QuarryStone, DimensionPast Producer
LongviewAluminumOccurrence
Section 4AluminumOccurrence
40th Street QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Corman QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Deal PitStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Headquarters Rd. PitStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Memorial Park Road QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Cowlitz County

Storms near this place

10 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Kelso in 10 storm reports between 2005 and 2017: 8 flood, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
December 2015FloodKelso$2,098,000The Cowlitz River at Kelso exceeded flood stage. Rises of the Kalama River resulted in flood damage of many businesses in Kalama including Motel 6, Remax, and the Burger Bar. Camp Kalama was closed due to flooding of the Kalama River. The I-5 offramp in Longview was closed due to high water.
March 2017FloodKelso-Heavy rain in addition to high river levels on the Columbia River caused the Cowlitz River near Kelso to flood. The river crested at 22.10 feet, which is 0.60 feet above flood stage.
November 2015FloodKelso-Heavy rain caused the Cowlitz River near Kelso to flood. The river crested at 22.1 feet, which is 0.6 ft above flood stage.
January 2009FloodKelso-Heavy rain caused flooding along the Cowlitz and Coweman Rivers which resulted in the evacuation of 4000 people.
January 2007Heavy RainKelso-A total accumulation of 1.71 inches was reported at Washougal.
December 2007FloodKelso-The Cowlitz River flooded near Kelso, causing only minor flooding.
November 2006FloodKelso-The Cowlitz River at Kelso crested at 23.1 feet on November 7th, with a flood stage of 21.5 feet.
January 2006FloodKelso-no account filed
January 2006FloodKelso-no account filed
April 2005Thunderstorm WindKelso-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Cowlitz County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
West Kelso0.8 miles11
Davis Terrace1.1 miles11
Longview1.7 miles11
Monticello (historical)1.7 miles11
Rocky Point1.7 miles11
Beacon Hill2.1 miles11
Columbia Heights2.1 miles11
Lexington2.8 miles11

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on KelsoAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q868654The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1512343. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.