Castle Rock, Washington

Castle Rock takes its name from a volcanic rock formation that rises a hundred and ninety feet above the Cowlitz River on the south side of town. William Huntington, who had traveled overland from Missouri with his family in eighteen fifty-two, settled this land claim and named the dramatic outcrop for its crenellated, castle-like profile. When Huntington became postmaster, the post office in his home carried the same name.

The town was platted in December of eighteen eighty-eight and incorporated on June twentieth of eighteen ninety. Today Castle Rock sits a short drive north of Longview and the Columbia River, and it was through this Cowlitz Valley corridor that Mount Saint Helens ash and mudflows traveled when the volcano erupted in May of nineteen eighty.