Tokeland, Washington facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tokeland, Washington
CDP
Post office in Tokeland
Location of Tokeland, Washington
Country	United States
State	Washington
County	Pacific
Area
• Total	0.5 sq mi (1.3 km2)
• Land	0.5 sq mi (1.3 km2)
• Water	0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation	7 ft (2 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	158
• Density	320/sq mi (122/km2)
Time zone	UTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP code	98590
Area code(s)	360
FIPS code	53-71680
GNIS feature ID	1512729

Tokeland is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pacific County, Washington, United States. The population was 158 at the 2020 census, a slight increase from 151 at the 2010 census.

The town was named after Chief Toke, an Indian chief of the 19th century.

History

Tokeland is named after Chief Toke of the Shoalwater Bay Tribe. Toke made the area a summer home for himself and his family, and his presence was first documented there by Lieutenant John Meares after Toke approached Meares' ship in his canoe at the mouth of Willapa Bay in 1788.

In 1854, J. F. Barrows settled on Toke Point, but left only a few years later. No other known settlers appeared in the area until the arrival of George Brown in 1858. In 1885, Brown's daughter Lizzie, and her husband, William Kindred, built a home that became the Kindred Inn, and eventually as the Tokeland Hotel. When the town's first post office was established in 1894, the Kindreds operated it, and continued doing so for 17 years. Lizzie Kindred was also partial owner of the Tokeland Oyster Company when it opened in 1905.

Tokeland became a popular enough destination that in 1910, a group of investors from Portland, Oregon sought to develop an amusement park there that would resemble Coney Island, although these plans never materialized.

Similarly to North Cove and other towns on the north side of Willapa Bay, coastal erosion became a serious concern for Tokeland. This, combined with the overall economic pressure affecting the nation during The Great Depression, caused a decline in the area's tourism industry in the 1930s and 1940s. The area's economy received a small boost starting in the 1950s, as recreational boating and fishing, combined with a surge in once-dwindling oyster harvests, rekindled many businesses. This led to the Port of Willapa Harbor making many improvements to Tokeland, including the 1974 addition of a new jetty, moorage, boat ramp, timber seawall, and fish buying station.

Tsunami evacuation tower

The Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe built a 50-foot tall (15 m) tsunami evacuation tower in 2022. The freestanding structure was built at a cost $5 million, $1.2 million supplied by the tribal council and an additional $3.8 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The tower is considered the first of its type in the United States. In honor of a tribal elder who guided the project to completion, the council bestowed the tower the nickname, "Auntie Lee".

Geography

Tokeland is located in Willapa Bay, by the mouth of the Cedar River. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 0.5 square miles (1.3 km²), all of it land.

Tsunami and inland flooding

During early talks to build a tsunami evacuation tower, studies were undertaken by the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe, in conjunction with several local, state, and federal agencies, that determined the Tokeland area could be hit by a tsunami 10-foot tall (3.0 m) within a range of 10 to 22 minutes after an ensuing high-magnitude earthquake.

Climate

This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Tokeland has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census there were 158 people, 171 housing units, and 70 families in the CDP. There were 116 White people, 1 African American, 17 Native Americans, 3 Asians, 2 people from some other race, and 19 people from two or more races. 11 people were of Hispanic or Latino origin.

The ancestry of Tokeland was 15.1% Polish, 9.8% Norwegian, 5.9% Irish, and 3.9% German.

The median age was 37 years old. 29.3% of the population spoke a language at home that was a 'other' language, i.e. not English, Spanish, nor Indo-European or an asian language. 24.9% of the population were older than 65, with 20% being between the ages of 65 to 74, and 4.9% being older than 85.

The median household income was $19,167, and married couples had $28,611. 23.9% of the population were older than 65.

Arts and culture

Tokeland is home to the Tokeland Hotel, recognized as the oldest such venue in the state. Built in 1899 as an addition to an existing farmhouse, the hotel began as the Kindred Inn and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

See also

In Spanish: Tokeland (Washington) para niños