Cora, Washington

Cora was established in either 1886 or 1888{{efn|Most news articles on Cora agree that 1888 was the original founding year, however some reports and other sources place the founding of the Davis homestead in 1886.}} by Levi A. Davis, son of the founder of Claquato, and was either named after Cora Davis, Levi's wife, or his niece, Cora M. Ferguson Patterson.{{cite news |last1=Pattison |first1=Cap |title=If Towns Could Talk - Roads help tell history of Randle |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-chronicle/2002/04-04/page-12 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Chronicle |date=April 4, 2002 |page=12}}{{Cite web |title=Revisiting Washington — Cora |url=https://revisitwa.org/waypoint/cora/ |access-date=2024-05-16 |website=revisitwa.org |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Henry C. Davis |url=https://jtenlen.drizzlehosting.com/walewis/hcdavis3.txt |website=Lewis Co., WA GenWeb Project |access-date=June 4, 2024}} At the time, Cora was far removed from other settlements, necessitating the need for supplies to be delivered by foot trails to the homestead.{{cite news |title=Harry Davis, Early Pioneer, Dies Sunday |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1930/09-12/page-47 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=September 12, 1930 |pages=5, 47}} Levi Davis died in 1901.{{cite news |title=Died |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1901/11-29/page-14 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=November 29, 1901 |page=14}}

A large portion of the Davis landholdings were sold in 1906 for $32,000 to the Chicago and North Western railroad, with plans to convert the acreage into a townsite and rail headquarters.{{cite news |title=Is It The C. & N.W. |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1906/07-27/page-1 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=July 27, 1906 |page=1}} The sons of Levi Davis were involved in lawsuits over ownership rights of coal lands near Cora in 1906 and 1907; successful in those proceedings, the coal disagreement reached the Supreme Court of the United States{{cite news |title=Coal Lands Are Involved |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1907/10-04/page-1 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=October 4, 1907 |page=1}}

The community, situated near the Cowlitz River, experienced its first recorded flood in 1896.{{cite news |title=Drowned In The Cowlitz |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85033162/1896-11-26/ed-1/seq-2/ |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=Lincoln County Leader |date=November 26, 1896 |page=2}} In 1905, the town began providing a cable ferry, known as the Cora Ferry, which supplied service over the Cowlitz. The operation of the ferry was based on a lease and bids to operate the transport was often done on an annual basis.{{cite news |title=Last Of The Year |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1906/12-21/page-3 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=December 21, 1906 |page=3}} The ferry landing was moved in 1913 to another site within Cora,{{cite news |title=Club Is Reorganized |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1913/10-24/page-3 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=October 24, 1913 |page=2}} and a new transfer system was built the same year.{{cite news |title=The County Commissioners |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1913/08-22/page-19 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=April 22, 1913 |pages=1, 16}} A ferry accident involving the Cora occurred in 1915 that took 5 lives{{cite news |title=Near Accident At Cora Ferry |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1916/06-30/page-19 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=June 23, 1916 |pages=3, 19}} and by the following year, the service was discontinued after the completion of the Cora Bridge.

During World War I, a Red Cross auxiliary was formed in Cora in 1918.{{cite news |title=Two New Auxiliaries |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1918/06-14/page-1 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=June 14, 1918 |page=1}} By the 1920s, the growing community had a grange and held a variety of events and dances at its hall.{{cite news |title=Surveying At Lewis |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1922/01-13/page-38 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=August 11, 1922 |pages=2, 27}} The grange building was converted into a community hall in 1923{{cite news |title=Lewis Items |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1923/05-04/page-75 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=May 13, 1923 |pages=16, 75}} which helped Cora accommodate a large gathering of regional grange members that same year.{{cite news |title=State Grange To Vancouver |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1923/06-22/page-27 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=June 22, 1923 |pages=10, 27}}

A post office was established at Cora on June 11, 1890, and remained in operation until November 30, 1908.{{cite web|url=http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?state=WA |title=Post Offices |publisher=Jim Forte Postal History |accessdate=26 July 2016 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306120103/http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?state=WA |archivedate=6 March 2016 }}{{cite web|url=https://walcgs.org/history.php|title=Mother of All Counties|work=Lewis County Genealogical Society, quoting Guy Reed Ramsey, "Postmarked Washington: Lewis and Cowlitz Counties"}} Operated exclusively during its run by members of the Davis family, the closure of the post office was due to a lack of anyone else in the community wanting to undertake the postmaster position.{{cite news |title=Cora Postoffice Discontinued |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1908/11-13/page-15 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=November 13, 1908 |pages=1, 15}}

The community shares its names with the nearby Cora Falls, a waterfall near the Nisqually Entrance to Mount Rainier National Park, fed by Cora Lake.{{cite web|url=https://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/waterfall/Cora-Falls-5134 |title=Cora Falls, Lewis County, Washington|website=waterfallsnorthwest.com|access-date=May 26, 2024}}

Cora had a school as early as 1903.{{cite news |title=Cora |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1903/05-15/page-10 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=May 15, 1903 |page=10}} The log building{{cite news |last1=Tuttle |first1=Myrtle |title=Settling The Big Bottom |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-daily-chronicle/1969/08-08/page-7 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Centralia Daily Chronicle |date=August 8, 1969 |page=7}} was replaced in 1915 after a new one-room school site, at a cost of $500, was constructed between Cora and Lewis (present-day Packwood).{{cite news |title=New Schools Authorized |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-daily-chronicle-examiner/1915/03-10/page-1 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Daily Chronicle-Examiner |date=March 10, 1915 |page=1}} The newer schoolhouse, which held summer classes, was reported as still existing by 1953.{{cite news |title=First School In Packwood Had 11 Pupils |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-daily-chronicle/1953/06-06/page-74 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Centralia Daily Chronicle |date=June 6, 1953 |page=14C}}

In February 1899, the Washington House of Representatives received a state senate bill that had passed enacting the establishment of a state road from Cora, or Sulphur Springs (present-day Packwood), through the Cowlitz Pass to Cowiche.{{cite book |title=House Journal of the Legislature of the State of Washington |date=February 11, 1899 |publisher=State Printer |page=348 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=US9OAAAAYAAJ |access-date=June 4, 2024}} Later that month, the House Committee on Appropriations recommended that the project be indefinitely postponed.{{cite book |title=House Journal of the Legislature of the State of Washington |date=February 23, 1899 |publisher=State Printer |page=530 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=US9OAAAAYAAJ |access-date=June 4, 2024}} At the turn of the 20th century, rail lines were being built at or near Cora.{{cite news |title=Many People Think It Northwestern |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085523/1906-08-08/ed-1/seq-7/ |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Yakima Herald |date=August 8, 1906 |page=7}}{{cite news |title=North Coast Part Of C., M. & St. Paul System |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085421/1907-08-12/ed-1/seq-1/ |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Evening Statesman (Walla Walla, Washington) |date=August 12, 1907 |page=1}}

An overpass spanning over the Cowlitz River was first constructed in Cora in 1915 and became known as the Cora Bridge.{{cite news |title=New Bridge For The Cowlitz |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1915/12-10/page-9 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=December 10, 1915 |pages=1, 9}} Major road improvements to the area began in 1925, which connected the Cora community to Randle.{{cite news |title=A Half Million Dollars For Good Roads In Eastern Lewis |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1925/08-14/page-25 |access-date=June 4, 2024 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |date=August 14, 1925 |page=1}}

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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)