In the 1840s, Kelso, Washington was founded along the banks of the Cowlitz River by a surveyor named Peter Crawford who named the town after his Scottish home.

Kelso has a unique historical past -- a story of struggle against competition in businesses and professions, its disasters and its faith in itself to overcome all odds and to expand, grow and progress in every way possible.

The complete and colorful history of Kelso is recorded in detail in a book by local resident Camilla Summers, now deceased. Her book, About Kelso, takes the reader from the time before Peter Crawford platted his farm into the city he named Kelso in 1884, through to the effects of the Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980.

The city of Kelso is the county seat of Cowlitz County, located in southwestern Washington. Kelso is located on Interstate 5, at the confluence of the Cowlitz, Coweeman and Columbia Rivers. Kelso is 48 miles north of Portland, Oregon and 125 miles south of Seattle,and only 80 miles east of the Pacific Ocean. 

There are 12,000 residents in Kelso and 85,000 people in Cowlitz County. The secondary market area for Kelso businesses includes approximately 20,000 residents of adjacent counties (Wahkiakum and south Lewis Counties in Washington, and Columbia County in Oregon). More people in Kelso work in direct production services and fewer work in management and technical areas than is the state norm.

Kelso is very accessible with a freeway (I-5) through the east portion of the city, an Amtrak station in downtown, Burlington Northern freight service, a municipal airport in South Kelso, and navigable water access via the Columbia River. In addition to I- 5, Kelso is located at the junction of State Highways 4, 411, 432 and 433.

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KELSO LONGVIEW CHAMBER OF COMMERCE