Ceres, Washington

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.{{cite magazine |title=The Sou'wester - Summer & Fall 2006 |date=2006 |magazine=Pacific County Historical Society and Museum |page=12 |edition=Volume XLII, Numbers 2 & 3 |url=http://www.pacificcohistory.org/sw2006_2.htm |access-date=May 28, 2024 |archive-date=March 20, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140320011036/http://www.pacificcohistory.org/sw2006_2.htm |url-status=bot: unknown }} The large depot was a prominent marker on the rail, painted red and often busy due to the farming of hops in the area.{{cite news |title=Big Red Depot Marked Sparse Area of Ceres, But Hop Growers Made It Busy |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-daily-chronicle/1953/06-06/page-86 |access-date=October 14, 2024 |work=The Daily Chronicle |date=June 6, 1953 |page=26C}} 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.{{cite news |title=If Towns Could Talk - Meskill-Ceres |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-chronicle/2002/03-30/page-12 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chronicle |date=March 30, 2002 |pages=A1, A12}}{{cite book|last=Meany|first=Edmond S.|title=Origin of Washington geographic names|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015027074981;view=1up;seq=58|year=1923|publisher=University of Washington Press|location=Seattle|page=42}}{{cite web |title=Lewis County Towns - Ceres |url=https://jtenlen.drizzlehosting.com/walewis/townsal.html |website=jtenlen.drizzlehosting.com |publisher=Lewis Co. WA GenWeb Project}}

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.{{cite news |title=Over The County |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1899/12-29/page-1 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=December 29, 1899 |page=1}}{{cite news |title=Their Last Session |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1901/01-11/page-21 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=January 11, 1901 |page=21}}{{cite news |title=Lots Of Business |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1903/06-12/page-1 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=June 12, 1903 |page=1}} 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.{{cite news |title=No title |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee/1897/02-12/page-11 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee |date=February 12, 1897 |page=11 |quote=Third column, near middle}}{{cite news |title=Press Comment |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee/1897/12-03/page-6 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee |date=December 3, 1897 |page=1 |quote=Bottom of far right column}} A steamboat, named the "Carrie Davis", operated out of Ceres during its early history, ferrying passengers and goods to the Skookumchuck River.{{cite news |title=Pioneer group members learn about steamer owner |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/pioneer-group-members-learn-about-steamer-owner,241356? |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chronicle (Centralia, Washington) |date=May 8, 2004}}{{cite news |title=J.T. Browning Noted Pioneer |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1911/06-15/page-11 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=June 15, 1911 |page=2}}{{efn|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.}}

Ceres began to grow in the new century, with the build of a grocery store in August 1908;{{cite news |title=Store At Ceres |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1908/08-07/page-19 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=August 7, 1908 |page=19}} the post office was established in the store in October of that year.{{cite news |title=Centralia |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-daily-chronicle/1908/10-13/page-3 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Centralia Daily Chronicle |date=October 13, 1908 |page=3 |quote=See 2nd column}} Telephone lines were installed in 1911 to "intermediate houses of note", with reports that Ceres residents were delighted.{{cite news |title=New Phone Line Granted By Board |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-daily-chronicle/1911/01-06/page-1 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Centralia Daily Chronicle |date=January 6, 1911 |page=1}} Timber harvesting continued in the community into the late 1910s, with the area supporting a logging camp.{{cite book |title=Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen - Monthly Bulletin |date=1918 |publisher=Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen |page=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=btcsAAAAYAAJ |access-date=May 30, 2024}} Approximately {{convert|300|ft|m|1}} of the Northern Pacific tracks in Ceres were torn away in early-January 1914 after a landslide caused by heavy rainfall.{{cite news |title=Heavy Rains Cause Damage |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85053157/1914-01-14/ed-1/seq-2 |access-date=October 21, 2024 |work=The River Press |date=January 14, 1914 |page=2}} Peaking in the 1920s, Ceres residents began the Ceres Improvement Club, which had their own hall.{{cite news |title=Ceres News |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1926/02-05/page-8 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=February 5, 1926 |page=3}}{{cite news |title=Ceres News |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1925/06-19/page-44 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=June 19, 1925 |page=2}}

Known as an agriculture community with a small population, Ceres was often described as a farming district beginning in the 1920s,{{cite news |title=The Chehalis City Election Is Held Monday, December 6 |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1920/12-03/page-19 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=December 3, 1920 |page=1}}{{cite news |title=Genuine Co-operation Need In This State |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1931/02-13/page-12 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=February 13, 1931 |page=6 |quote=2nd column}} and sometimes referred to as a neighborhood.{{cite news |title=Deaths Reported This Week - I.N. Land |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1924/10-17/page-37 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=October 17, 1924 |page=37}} By the 1930s, Ceres became synonymous with the moniker, Ceres Hill, and reporting in the 1960s classified the community as an area.{{cite news |title=Bold Theft Reported |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-daily-chronicle/1969/03-27/page-1 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Daily Chronicle |date=March 27, 1969 |page=1}}

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.{{cite news |last1=Schwartz |first1=Eric |title=A Tour of Recovery |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/a-tour-of-recovery,202115? |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chronicle |date=March 21, 2008}}

A post office called Ceres was first established between 1892 and 1893 and another official office was begun in 1908 inside the newly constructed grocery store; it remained in operation until 1931.{{cite web|url=http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?state=WA |title=Post Offices |publisher=Jim Forte Postal History |access-date=22 July 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306120103/http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?state=WA |archive-date=6 March 2016 }} The office began as a pigeon-hole messagebox 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.{{cite news |title=Ceres Rural |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1924/02-01/page-14 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=January 25, 1924 |page=12}}

By 1930, the route was removed and mail was available for pickup in Chehalis;{{cite news |title=Ceres Rural Route to Be Out of Chehalis P.O. |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1930/05-02/page-3 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=May 2, 1930 |page=1}} the Ceres postmaster resigned at the end of the year. Attempts were made to hire a new head of the post office,{{cite news |title=Will Hold Examination of Postmaster at Ceres |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1930/12-12/page-43 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=December 12, 1930 |page=21}} 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".{{cite news |title=To Extend Route 4 Into Ceres District |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1931/02-20/page-34 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=February 20, 1931 |page=1}} The Ceres post office was officially announced as closed, May 29, 1931.{{cite news |title=Town Talk |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1931/05-15/page-14 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=May 30, 1931 |page=11 |quote=2nd column}}

Ceres is located approximately {{convert|12|mi}} west of Chehalis and the area is known for its fertile soil.{{cite news |title=Ceres Fertile Spot |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-daily-chronicle/1941/08-26/page-43 |access-date=May 29, 2024 |work=The Centralia Daily Chronicle |date=August 26, 1941 |page=43}} In the early days of settlement, the region in which Ceres is located was referred to as King's prairie.

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.{{cite news |title=Over The County |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1900/08-17/page-15 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=August 17, 1900 |page=8}} 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.{{cite news |title=Boistfort Valley was site of state's first public school in 1850s |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-daily-chronicle/1976/07-02/page-35 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Daily Chronicle |date=July 2, 1976 |page=D15}}{{cite news |title=Ceres Withdraws From 204 |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1917/05-25/page-9 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=May 18, 1917 |page=2}} The student population was never large, with the total number of pupils once recorded as 15 in 1918.{{cite news |title=Adna Fair List |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1918/05-31/page-3 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=May 31, 1918 |page=2}} 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.{{cite news |title=PWA Money For Bridge Received |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-daily-chronicle/1936/03-23/page-3 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Centralia Daily Chronicle |date=March 23, 1936 |page=3}}

The region was known for its farming and agricultural use. Ceres was particularly known for the cultivation of hops,{{cite news |title=Hop Picking Season Is Here |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-daily-chronicle-examiner/1915/09-03/page-6 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Centralia Daily Chronicle Examiner |date=September 3, 1915 |page=6}} with a farmer once receiving an award from a show in New York City.{{cite news |title=Local Hops Win Prizes |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1912/12-05/page-1 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=December 5, 1912 |page=1}} Ceres was also a large producer of prized Holstein cows,{{cite news |title=Chamberlain Bull From Good Stock |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-daily-chronicle/1930/07-22/page-3 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Centralia Daily Chronicle |date=July 22, 1930 |page=3}} setting a world record in 1933 for the number of birthed calves.{{cite news |title=Sow Is Prolific |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-daily-chronicle/1933/04-25/page-2 |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The Centralia Daily Chronicle |date=April 25, 1933 |page=2}}

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{{Lewis County, Washington}}

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Category:Populated places in Lewis County, Washington

Category:Unincorporated communities in Lewis County, Washington

Category:Unincorporated communities in Washington (state)