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Ceres, Washington
Ceres, Washington
Former community, locale
	Ceres Ceres
	Coordinates: 46°36′28″N 123°09′12″W / 46.60778°N 123.15333°W
Country	United States
State	Washington
County	Lewis
Elevation	240 ft (73 m)
Time zone	UTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP code	98532
Area code	360

Ceres, also known as Ceres Hill, was a former farming and railroad depot community and is a locale in Lewis County, in the U.S. state of Washington.^[1] The area is located off Washington State Route 6 in a bend of the Chehalis River. The Willapa Hills Trail bisects the former community.^[2]

History

The area began with a train depot known as Long's Crossing and was a rail stop on the South Bend line for Northern Pacific Railroad. Across from the station, the town grew to include a general store.^[3] The large depot was a prominent marker on the rail, painted red and often busy due to the farming of hops in the area.^[4] The community was eventually named by the Northern Pacific Railroad after Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, due to the fertile soil in the area.^[5]^[6]^[7]

By the late 1890s, the rail stop became known as Ceres station, and the first iteration of the Ceres Bridge was constructed at the turn of the 20th century.^[8]^[9]^[10] In the 1890s, the area became a logging site and a splash dam was built in 1897, but destroyed later that year after a large flood event.^[11]^[12] A steamboat, named the "Carrie Davis", operated out of Ceres during its early history, ferrying passengers and goods to the Skookumchuck River.^[13]^[14]^[a]

Ceres began to grow in the new century, with the build of a grocery store in August 1908;^[15] the post office was established in the store in October of that year.^[16] Telephone lines were installed in 1911 to "intermediate houses of note", with reports that Ceres residents were delighted.^[17] Timber harvesting continued in the community into the late 1910s, with the area supporting a logging camp.^[18] Approximately 300 feet (91.4 m) of the Northern Pacific tracks in Ceres were torn away in early-January 1914 after a landslide caused by heavy rainfall.^[19] Peaking in the 1920s, Ceres residents began the Ceres Improvement Club, which had their own hall.^[20]^[21]

Known as an agriculture community with a small population,^[5] Ceres was often described as a farming district beginning in the 1920s,^[22]^[23] and sometimes referred to as a neighborhood.^[24] By the 1930s, Ceres became synonymous with the moniker, Ceres Hill, and reporting in the 1960s classified the community as an area.^[25]

After disastrous floods to the region due to the Great Coastal Gale of 2007, reporting provided details on infrastructure and residential damages in the Ceres Hill Road area, but does not mention Ceres as a town or community.^[26]

Post office

A post office called Ceres was first established between 1892 and 1893^[4] and another official office was begun in 1908 inside the newly constructed grocery store;^[16] it remained in operation until 1931.^[27] The office began as a pigeon-hole messagebox^[3] but by the 1920s, the Ceres postmaster was in charge of a route that delivered mail three days a week to surrounding towns such as Boistfort, the neighboring communities of Doty and Dryad, and went as far west as Pe Ell. Residents could sign up with the Ceres office, and postal workers were legally required to exchange and deliver mail from registered members on the route.^[28]

By 1930, the route was removed and mail was available for pickup in Chehalis;^[29] the Ceres postmaster resigned at the end of the year. Attempts were made to hire a new head of the post office,^[30] and the Ceres route was reintegrated to the Chehalis delivery circuit, but a new Ceres postmaster was never hired as "the compensation is so small no one will take the position permanently".^[31] The Ceres post office was officially announced as closed, May 29, 1931.^[32]

Geography

Ceres is located approximately 12 miles (19 km) west of Chehalis and the area is known for its fertile soil.^[33] In the early days of settlement, the region in which Ceres is located was referred to as King's prairie.^[14]

Education

The Ceres community is first mentioned as having a school in 1900, where a musical performance was held by students from the state juvenile detention center, Green Hill School.^[34] By 1910, Ceres hosted two schools and districts, given the numbers 67 and 138. The Ceres school No. 67 was part of consolidated district, but legally separated from such in 1917 and joined with No. 138.^[35]^[36] The student population was never large, with the total number of pupils once recorded as 15 in 1918.^[37] The school closed before the 1936–1937 school year as a new road built by the Public Works Administration allowed Ceres students to travel to nearby Klaber, Washington.^[38]

Economy

The region was known for its farming and agricultural use. Ceres was particularly known for the cultivation of hops,^[5]^[39] with a farmer once receiving an award from a show in New York City.^[40] Ceres was also a large producer of prized Holstein cows,^[41] setting a world record in 1933 for the number of birthed calves.^[42]

Notes

^ The dates the steamer operated are unclear but it was owned by an early pioneer in the Adna-Claquato region, J.T. Browning. See source listed.

References

^ ^a ^b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Ceres, Washington
^ "Willapa Hills State Park Trail". parks.state.wa.us. Washington State Parks. Archived from the original on July 28, 2021. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
^ ^a ^b "The Sou'wester - Summer & Fall 2006". Pacific County Historical Society and Museum (Volume XLII, Numbers 2 & 3 ed.). 2006. p. 12. Archived from the original on March 20, 2014. Retrieved May 28, 2024.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ ^a ^b "Big Red Depot Marked Sparse Area of Ceres, But Hop Growers Made It Busy". The Daily Chronicle. June 6, 1953. p. 26C. Retrieved October 14, 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c "If Towns Could Talk - Meskill-Ceres". The Chronicle. March 30, 2002. pp. A1, A12. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ Meany, Edmond S. (1923). Origin of Washington geographic names. Seattle: University of Washington Press. p. 42.
^ "Lewis County Towns - Ceres". jtenlen.drizzlehosting.com. Lewis Co. WA GenWeb Project.
^ "Over The County". The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. December 29, 1899. p. 1. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "Their Last Session". The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. January 11, 1901. p. 21. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "Lots Of Business". The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. June 12, 1903. p. 1. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "No title". The Chehalis Bee. February 12, 1897. p. 11. Retrieved May 30, 2024. Third column, near middle
^ "Press Comment". The Chehalis Bee. December 3, 1897. p. 1. Retrieved May 30, 2024. Bottom of far right column
^ "Pioneer group members learn about steamer owner". The Chronicle (Centralia, Washington). May 8, 2004. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ ^a ^b "J.T. Browning Noted Pioneer". The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. June 15, 1911. p. 2. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "Store At Ceres". The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. August 7, 1908. p. 19. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ ^a ^b "Centralia". The Centralia Daily Chronicle. October 13, 1908. p. 3. Retrieved May 30, 2024. See 2nd column
^ "New Phone Line Granted By Board". The Centralia Daily Chronicle. January 6, 1911. p. 1. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen - Monthly Bulletin. Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen. 1918. p. 22. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "Heavy Rains Cause Damage". The River Press. January 14, 1914. p. 2. Retrieved October 21, 2024.
^ "Ceres News". The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. February 5, 1926. p. 3. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "Ceres News". The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. June 19, 1925. p. 2. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "The Chehalis City Election Is Held Monday, December 6". The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. December 3, 1920. p. 1. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "Genuine Co-operation Need In This State". The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. February 13, 1931. p. 6. Retrieved May 30, 2024. 2nd column
^ "Deaths Reported This Week - I.N. Land". The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. October 17, 1924. p. 37. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "Bold Theft Reported". The Daily Chronicle. March 27, 1969. p. 1. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ Schwartz, Eric (March 21, 2008). "A Tour of Recovery". The Chronicle. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "Post Offices". Jim Forte Postal History. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
^ "Ceres Rural". The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. January 25, 1924. p. 12. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "Ceres Rural Route to Be Out of Chehalis P.O." The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. May 2, 1930. p. 1. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "Will Hold Examination of Postmaster at Ceres". The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. December 12, 1930. p. 21. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "To Extend Route 4 Into Ceres District". The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. February 20, 1931. p. 1. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "Town Talk". The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. May 30, 1931. p. 11. Retrieved May 30, 2024. 2nd column
^ "Ceres Fertile Spot". The Centralia Daily Chronicle. August 26, 1941. p. 43. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
^ "Over The County". The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. August 17, 1900. p. 8. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "Boistfort Valley was site of state's first public school in 1850s". The Daily Chronicle. July 2, 1976. p. D15. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "Ceres Withdraws From 204". The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. May 18, 1917. p. 2. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "Adna Fair List". The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. May 31, 1918. p. 2. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "PWA Money For Bridge Received". The Centralia Daily Chronicle. March 23, 1936. p. 3. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "Hop Picking Season Is Here". The Centralia Daily Chronicle Examiner. September 3, 1915. p. 6. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "Local Hops Win Prizes". The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. December 5, 1912. p. 1. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "Chamberlain Bull From Good Stock". The Centralia Daily Chronicle. July 22, 1930. p. 3. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
^ "Sow Is Prolific". The Centralia Daily Chronicle. April 25, 1933. p. 2. Retrieved May 30, 2024.