Kelso

Kelso, city, seat (1932) of Cowlitz county, southwestern Washington, U.S., on the Cowlitz River, immediately northeast of Longview. Built on the site of the Cowlitz Indian village of Tiahanakshih, the area that became Kelso was settled in 1847 by Peter Crawford, a Scottish surveyor who laid out the town site in 1884 and named it for his hometown in Scotland. The city’s economy is based chiefly on lumbering, fishing, dairying, and fruit growing. The Cowlitz County Historical Museum (1949) is located there. Seaquest State Park and Silver Lake (noted for fishing) are nearby. A riverfront section of the city, including more than 130 homes, was destroyed by a slow-moving mudslide in 1998 and 1999. Inc. town, 1889; city, 1908. Pop. (2000) 11,895; (2010) 11,925.