Brief Timeline

First Peoples

The City of Ridgefield and surrounding areas within Clark County primarily rest on the traditional village sites of the Chinook and Cowlitz tribes, who cared for these lands for thousands of years prior to the introduction of white settlers. Additionally, countless tribes from across the Pacific Northwest came to this area to trade with one another by using the Columbia River and its adjoining waterways as an intricate network of trade routes.

For millennia, these Indigenous communities thrived while maintaining a balanced, sustainable relationship with the natural world. These values were passed down from generation to generation and are still practiced by these indigenous groups today.

For thousands of years the Chinook people occupied villages stretching all along the Columbia River. One of these villages, Cathlapotle, was located in modern day Ridgefield.

From the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation:

For millennia, people lived along what is today known as the Columbia River. Indigenous villages flourished and became successful trade centers along this natural travel corridor. Venturing upriver from the Pacific Ocean, Europeans first traveled the river in 1792. In 1805, the Lewis and Clark Expedition arrived from the East and reported village after village along the Columbia. When the expedition passed perhaps the largest Chinook village they encountered, now known as Cathlapotle, seven well-engineered and artistically embellished canoes bearing people from the village accompanied the expedition for several miles downstream. During the return upstream trip in March 1806, the expedition visited Cathlapotle. There they bought provisions, tried to purchase one of the canoes that had so impressed them, and examined the 14 large cedar plankhouses (the largest 200 by 45 feet) that housed the estimated 900 inhabitants. Tragically, thereafter the communities along the Columbia River corridor were ravaged by illnesses brought by contact with foreign cultures. Approximately 40 years after Lewis and Clark departed, Cathlapotle was abandoned. The buildings slowly vanished, and the site became covered with vegetation.

Additional Information:

Visit:

Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge (RNWR): The Carty Unit and River ‘S’ Unit are available for the public to visit.
- Cathlapotle Plankhouse: This education and interpretive center is used for cultural events throughout the year. It is smaller than the original houses at Cathlapotle, but was modeled on plankhouess excavated by archaeologists at the village site. The Cathlapotle Plankhouse is not open to the public at this time, but the outside may be viewed on the Carty Unit of RNWR.

1792-1830: Non-Native Exploration

British Royal Navy Lieutenant William Broughton explored the Columbia River in October, 1792, under orders from Captain George Vancouver. Broughton made note of a "large Indian village" he encountered, which is now generally considered to have been the Cathlapotle settlement.

The next well-documented meeting between the Cathlapotle and Westerners was November 5, 1805 when famous explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark met members of the Cathlapotle village.

"Shore by a narrow chanel at 9 miles, I observed on the Chanel which passes on the Stard. Side of this Island a short distance above its lower point is Situated a large village, the front of which occupies nearly 1/4 of a mile fronting the Chanel, and closely connected, I counted 14 houses (Quathlapotle nation) in front here the river widens to about 1-1/2 miles. Seven canoes of Indians came out from this large village to view and trade with us, they appeared orderly and well disposed, they accompanied us a fiew miles and returned back" (Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition).

The journals of both explorers describe the people as friendly and eager to give and receive gifts. On their return voyage, March 29, 1806, Lewis and Clark gave the principal Cathlapotle Chief one of their peace medals.

The abundance of water fowl in the area caused Lewis and Clark to complain that they couldn’t sleep, and they also remarked on the wealth of sturgeon and wapato. Cathlapotle so impressed the explorers and traders during the early 19th century that nearly all writers who passed through the area mentioned it. Not only was the village site ideally close to food sources, its placement near both the Columbia and Lewis Rivers made travel and trade convenient.

During the 1830’s a deadly virus spread through the Native people of the Lower Columbia and Willamette valley. The virus decimated the Chinook people and any remaining Cathlapotle largely abandoned the village settlement.

Visit:

Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail

1830-1880: Euro-American Settlement

The first recorded non-Native settler in Ridgefield was James Carty, a young Irish immigrant who had heard reports of fertile soil and level farming land. Carty arrived in 1839 and built a log cabin near the site of the plankhouses. For 10 years, Carty had the area almost to himself, sharing it only with a few surviving Cathlapotle natives that remained in the area.

In 1850, Congress passed the U.S. Donation Land Claim Act to encourage settlement of the West and American settlers flocked to land along the Columbia River. In 1849, bachelors Stillman Hendrick, B.O. Teal, and George Thing settled on the island across Lake River from Carty’s land claim, thereby giving Bachelor Island its name. They were followed in settling the area by Columbia Lancaster in 1850, Arthur Quigley in 1852, and Frederick Shobert, who made his claim in 1853. The Lancaster home, north of the current city limits, was constructed by 1855 and still stands today. Shobert’s 320 acre homestead included the southern portion of the current downtown area and family members report he chose the land because he wanted to log the heavy timber that covered it.

Quigley and Shobert both established mud landings on their properties adjoining Lake River where river steamers, now trolling up and down the river to join settlements with the Portland market, landed to load and unload. Shobert’s Landing became the common name for the area for the next ten years. Shobert’s landing was a hub of activities during this time period; in addition to activity related to the steamers, neighbors used the landing for personal trips, and the Shobert home gradually became a lodging house to accommodate travelers. Ferry crossings were also established in the 1850s. On December 2, 1851, Carty received a permit from the county to run a ferry across Lake River, as did O.W. Bozarth for a ferry service on the Lewis River.

In the years that followed, more settlers were drawn to the gently sloping land extending from elevated highland to the banks of Lake River.

In 1865, the first Postmaster, Asa Richardson, established the first Post Office is his home and the locals chose the name Union Ridge for the community, due to the high number of residents originating from the Union Ranks of the Civil War.

The relationship between the new Euro-American settlers and the native Chinook people was reported as generally friendly and neighborly.

Lindley Meeker purchased a portion of Carty’s original land claim and in 1874 his wife, Mary Meeker, planted a Sequoia tree in front of the home Lindley had built. Both the home and tree are still standing at 605 N Main Avenue. (This is a private residence. Respect the privacy of property owners.) The tree is recognized and protected as a Ridgefield Heritage Tree.

Visit:

Plas Newydd Farm – Columbia Lancaster House
Lindley Meeker House Historic Home, 605 N Main Ave. Private residence. Please respect the privacy of property owners.
Ridgefield Historic Walking Tour

1880-1900: A Small Community Rises

As more American settlers came to the area, the small community called Union Ridge began to take shape. The new residents cleared the land for lumber and for farming and build permanent homes.

In 1882, Stephen Shobert and J.J. Commerce opened the first store. In 1884, the first church, named “Union Ridge Church” was dedicated after being built on land donated by the Shobert family. The church was renamed many times, and while no longer a church, the building still stands at 113 S Main Ave.

In 1890 S P. Mackay became the third postmaster of Union Ridge. Originally from Virginia, he was not fond of the name Union Ridge and circulated a petition to rename the area. There was little opposition to Mackey’s proposal and at a public meeting later that year, the name Ridgefield was endorsed.

At this time, transportation was still mainly by river, although there was a road traveling between Vancouver and Ridgefield. Initial construction of railroad began in 1890, but was suspended due to financing. The next ten years saw increased development of the town:

1892: School house opened on Maple Avenue.
1893: First telephone lines connected from Vancouver to Sara to Ridgefield.
1896: N.C. Hall Creamery moved from Vancouver to Ridgefield.
1897: W.A. Jones and S.F. Steelman built a three-story steam powered grist and flour mill on the slope between the ridge and Lake River.
1899: Bicycle path built from Vancouver through Fruit Valley and Sara, to Ridgefield.

In 1900 construction of the Union Pacific railroad between Vancouver and Kalama re-started, with the path running through Ridgefield. A saloon opened to patronize the railroad construction crews, but the community of Ridgefield petitioned the county to deny the saloon renewal of its license and it closed after only one year. Ridgefield remained officially a temperance community for several years following, however there are personal anecdotes of bootlegged liquor, including prune whiskey, produced and sold during this period.

The first train ran through Ridgefield on November 2, 1901 and opened up new possibilities for travel and commerce for residents of the community.

Visit:

Ridgefield Historic Walking Tour
Union Ridge Church (The Neighborhood Refuge), 113 S Main Ave.

1900-1920: Birth of the City

The continued growth of the community in Ridgefield led to official incorporation as a city in 1909. There are several factors attributed with influencing this development, including the completion of the railroad bridge across the Columbia in Vancouver and a desire of the citizens to hold local responsibility for saloon licensing, rather than having to petition the county to stop a saloon from operating in the town.

At a special election held in 1909 the people decided by a vote of 62-12 in favor of incorporation. The first officials of the City were James A. Smith, Mayor, and Council members NC Hall, A. Murray, J.S. Maxson, F.H. Gilbert and Dr. R.S. Stryker. The City Clerk was J.W. Blackburn and the Treasurer was EA. Blackmore.

The Ridgefield Reflector was founded the same year by Kelley Loe, a newspaper man who had already established and sold other newspapers in the area. The Ridgefield Reflector was started on Main Avenue, then relocated to the building at 122 N 3^rd Avenue before eventually moving to its current home in Battle Ground and renaming as The Reflector.

The established businesses for the City in 1909, as advertised in the Ridgefield Reflector, were two general merchandise stores, a department store, two lumber mills, a water well contractor and driller, two contractors and builders, a boat builder, meat market, hotel, livery and draying, boot and shoemaker, creamery, barber shop, blacksmith, realtor, and a weaver.

Several services and businesses needed by the ever-growing community came over the next decade, including Ridgefield State Bank in 1910, an eight-room school building in 1911, electrical service in 1916, and a steamboat between Portland and Ridgefield in 1916.

At the same time, the first shingle mill, an industry that would become a driving force in the early Ridgefield economy, was constructed by Austin Beaver in 1911. Shingle mills, run through the years by the Bratlie Brothers Mill Company, Portland Shingle Company, and others, were to be the main industry in Ridgefield until the last one went bankrupt in 1957. The mills employed nearly all of the men in the city and mill accidents were a leading cause in the community’s need for its first doctor, Dr. R.S. Stryker, who came to Ridgefield in the early 1910s.

The other main industry in Ridgefield was farming, mainly of prunes, potatoes, and dairy cows. Local histories written in the 1940s note that since the town’s incorporation it had been both a farming and a lumber community.

Visit:

Ridgefield Historic Walking Tour
Ridgefield Reflector Newspaper, Now El Rancho Viejo restaurant, 122 N 3^rd Avenue

1920-1950: Building and Re-Building

The era that followed was a time of building of new businesses and community organizations and rebuilding businesses, families and the economy after fires and the economic downturn of the Great Depression.

Ridgefield residents then, as now, participated heavily in civic and community organizations and activities. The Priscilla Study Club formed in 1914 and opened Ridgefield’s first library in 1923. The Ridgefield Garden Club was started in 1938 out of a desire to improve the community by planting flowering trees in the parking strops throughout the city. The first two motion picture theaters built in Ridgefield were destroyed by fire, but the third, owned by O.E. Foley, opened in 1921 and remained in business through the late thirties. The building still stands, now Ridgefield Floral & Gifts, at 328 Pioneer Street. In 1946, the Liberty Theater was constructed at 115 N Main Avenue and was operated as a movie theater for six years.

During this period Ridgefield also built churches and storefronts that are still standing today: the Ridgefield Church of the Nazarene in 1922 at 418 Pioneer Street (now Ridgefield Mercantile), the Ridgefield Methodist Church at 202 S 4^th Ave (private residence, please respect their privacy), the Red and White Store (now Center Market) at 203 Pioneer Street in 1925, Ridgefield Pharmacy at 108 N Main Avenue in 1926, and the Ridgefield Jail at 116 N Main Ave in 1937. The Ridgefield Historic Walking Tour can guide tourists to these sites and more.

A series of fires throughout the first half of the twentieth century required the rebuilding of the school, as well as many of the businesses in Ridgefield. A large portion of the business section burned in 1916; fire destroyed Ridgefield hotels in 1923 and 1934; the school that had been built in 1911 burned in 1927; and Ridgefield mills were destroyed or damaged by fire in 1923, 1927, and 1943, a year that saw three mill fires. While arson was suspected by a few people in some of these cases, the refuse burners were usually the cause of the mill fires. Fires weren’t the only cause of students missing school, in 1942, an ice storm and silver thaw closed schools for over 20 days.

When the Great Depression hit the United States in 1929, Ridgefield was characterized as a good place to be. Families moved to Ridgefield to escape the depression and the Dust Bowl in other parts of the country. These newcomers were amazed to find land that could be farmed for the better part of the year. Because of family farming and fishing, even the poorest families didn’t go hungry. The building of dams on the Columbia River during the New Deal changed the shape of Ridgefield. Before the dams were built, ice flows would drift down the river in the winter, lowering the temperature of the Columbia and causing it and its sloughs to freeze over. Lake River would freeze up so solidly that one could walk or skate on it from Ridgefield to Vancouver Lake.

Visit:

Ridgefield Historic Walking Tour
Foley Theater, Ridgefield Floral & Gifts, 328 Pioneer Street

1950-1980: Shifting Economics

In the early 1950s, Ridgefield was by all accounts a thriving town. It was served by a well-equipped volunteer fire department, installed a city-wide sewer system, was building new schools and had a rich social life.

Economics were shifting slightly in post-war Ridgefield. The last shingle mill had closed by 1957, leaving the newly formed Ridgefield Veneer Company as the only remaining industrial employment in the area. More and more young Ridgefield residents were leaving town for work and not coming back. In 1964, the Pacific Wood Treating plant opened, creating more industrial jobs, but despite this, people began to fear Ridgefield would become little more than a bedroom community to the city of Vancouver. Economic growth stagnated in the sixties and seventies.

An opportunity to explore a new industry, tourism, sprouted in Ridgefield in the late 1960s. The Federal Highway Act in 1956 initiated development of Interstate 5 and portions though Clark County were completed in the mid-1960s. In 1965, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service established the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge to provide wintering habitat for the dusky subspecies of the Canada goose, who’s habitat is extremely limited. The Refuge began with the purchase of dairy land from private landowners as well as a land donation from James Carty. These near simultaneous developments brought the opportunity for tourism to Ridgefield and helped to cement the roots of environmental stewardship that are still present in Ridgefield today.

Visit:

Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

1980-2000: Modernization

The next 20 years in Ridgefield’s history were filled with change, in community resources, economics, politics and population.

Community and recreational resources expanded during this time. In 1981, Ridgefield voters approved annexation of the Ridgefield Community Library, still operated out of the Priscilla Building clubhouse, into the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District. The Ridgefield Community Center Association was formed in 1984 and raised funds to purchase property and construct a new building at 210 N Main Avenue, which included space for a larger community library. The Ridgefield Community Center opened in 1994. Long standing community events such as Hometown Celebration and BirdFest also began in 1990s.

Beginning in 1991, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Archaeologists from Portland State University identified and started exploring a new cultural resource at the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, the village of Cathlapotle. Archaeologists used historical records, information from the Carty family, surveys, and ground tests to determine the village site. Radiocarbon dating indicated that while there had been activity in the area for several hundred years, Cathlapotle was moved to its present location around AD 1450. Starting in 1991, Dr. Kenneth Ames and his students excavated two of the six large depressions that had contained between 14 and 16 plankhouses. The excavations reveal the village’s organization, technology, resources, and global trade connections.

The Pacific Wood Treating plant went bankrupt in 1993, leaving the Port of Ridgefield with an expensive clean-up project at the Ridgefield Waterfront. This cleanup effort began in 1995 and was completed in 2015.

From 1990 to 1999, the city population grew 59 percent and annexation added over 2,200 acres to the city. Since incorporation in 1909, Ridgefield had operated under the strong-mayor form of government, but by the end of the 1990s, successive mayors found it impossible to balance their family and career lives with the increasing demands of the volunteer mayoral position. In 1999, Ridgefield City Council presented to the citizens Proposition 1, which would follow the example of nearby Battleground and change the city government from strong-mayor form to a council-manager system. Under a council-manager system, the elected council hires a city manager to work at the council’s direction; the mayor is selected from among the elected council members by the city council itself. On November 3 of that year, the Portland Oregonian called the change, “the biggest structural change for the city since 1909,” when the Proposition passed by over 71 percent.

Visit:

Ridgefield Waterfront
Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge (RNWR): The Carty Unit and River ‘S’ Unit are available for the public to visit.
1. Cathlapotle Plankhouse: This education and interpretive center is used for cultural events throughout the year. It is smaller than the original houses at Cathlapotle, but was modeled on plankhouess excavated by archaeologists at the village site. The Cathlapotle Plankhouse is not open to the public at this time, but the outside may be viewed on the Carty Unit of RNWR.

2000-2020

Ridgefield entered the new millennium with a new form of government, ready to build, grow, and maintain the traditions built from the community’s roots.

The Cathlapotle Plankhouse, built through a partnership of the Chinook Indian Nation, Portland State University, The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Friends of the Refuge, and numerous other community partners and volunteers, opened in 2005. Built as part of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commemoration, the structure was modeled on plankhouses excavated by archaeologists at the village site. The contemporary plankhouse stands as a reminder of the thousands of people who lived at the Cathlapotle Village for hundreds of years. The Cathlapotle Plankhouse serves as an education and interpretive center and is used for cultural events throughout the year.

In 2009 Ridgefield celebrated its centennial with a festival, exhibits and the burial of a time capsule at Davis Park. The Centennial Celebration was held August 22 and featured live music, a costume contest, car show and more. The time capsule was buried December 5, 2009.

Ridgefield’s population grew rapidly from about 2008 to 2020, and the increased population brought a demand for new services and amenities. These included the first full-service grocery store, Rosauers, which opened in 2019; the Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex sports fields and a wood-bat baseball team, the Ridgefield Raptors; newly built school building for Sunset and View Ridge; new organizations focused on economic development, Ridgefield Chamber of Commerce and Ridgefield Main Street; and much more.

In response to this growth, the City identified a need to preserve the small town characteristics and community feel that residents cherished, while updating the infrastructure and supporting the development of desired services necessary for the new population. This took many forms, most formally the 2016 Comprehensive Plan, but also through the support of Downtown Revitalization in partnership with Ridgefield Main Street, a re-branding effort in 2016 that included in updated City logo and the slogan “Forward Thinking, Rooted in Tradition,” and starting Ridgefield First Saturdays in 2015, a monthly community event program designed to bring people together in Downtown, in cooperation with active community members and downtown businesses.

In 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic changed daily lives in Ridgefield and around the globe. Community events were cancelled, businesses were shuttered, and city operations had to adapt to keep community members and staff safe. The City, Chamber of Commerce and Ridgefield Main Street implemented programs to encourage residents to continue to make purchases from local businesses during closures and to implement public health measures to slow the spread of the virus. Events were pivoted to a virtual format, and the Ridgefield community found ways to continue to support one another and build relationships.

This timeline has been brief and could not include all of the important events, organizations, and members of the community that are crucial to the character of Ridgefield today. We hope you have enjoyed this brief overview and take the time to explore the other histories shared on this site. We consider this section of our website a “work in progress” that will continuously receive additions and revisions.

Comments, questions, corrections and additional information are welcome and encouraged, please email Megan DeMoss at Megan.DeMoss@ridgefieldwa.us.

Brief Timeline

Table of Contents

First Peoples

Additional Information:

Visit:

1792-1830: Non-Native Exploration

Visit:

1830-1880: Euro-American Settlement

Visit:

1880-1900: A Small Community Rises

1900-1920: Birth of the City

Visit:

1920-1950: Building and Re-Building

Visit:

1950-1980: Shifting Economics

Visit:

1980-2000: Modernization

2000-2020

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