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History · Creston

Creston’s post office opened in 1890, and 29% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1902 on and the census since 1910.

1890first post office
0on the National Register
29%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Robert Ashworth from Bellingham, WA., USA · CC BY 2.0
Quick answers

How Creston began

When was Creston founded?

1890

The Creston post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Benson (1886), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 308 in 19102020 census: 213136 years
Founding year: the first Creston post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Creston’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Creston are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Mapped building by building3 fire insurance maps, 1902 to 1930, drew every building in Creston.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Creston’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Creston’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Every building

Creston, building by building, 1902–1930

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Creston fire insurance map, 1902, sheet 11902Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Creston came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Creston.

Read it all →

Creston sprang up with the arrival of the Central Washington Railroad in 1889. It was so named because of its high altitude; it was thought to be at the highest point (the crest) between Cheney and Coulee City, Washington, along the railroad grade. In the spring of 1890, a town site was platted by H.S. Huson and registered with the state on June 23 of that year. The first structure in town was a small store building moved to the site by Henry Verfurth from the nearby village of Sherman, 5 miles northwest of Creston. A post office was established shortly thereafter whose jurisdiction extended to the Columbia River on the North and the railroad tracks on the South with ten miles East and West. Henry Verfurth was appointed as postmaster. Following the Panic of 1893 and the bankruptcy of the town site owner, Creston remained dormant until a bumper wheat crop in 1897 gave a boost to the regi…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Creston, 1886 to 1989

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1886Post officeThe Benson post office opens
  3. 1886Post officeThe Benson post office closes
  4. 1890Post officeThe Creston post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1989On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Creston on the map in 1989

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Creston.

Creston on the 1989 USGS map1989Creston sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Creston.

People over time

Creston, census by census

0100200300192019401960198020002020Peak: 325

Between 213 and 325 people in every census since 1910.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Creston’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Creston’s post office has been open since 1890. Another post office, Benson, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Benson
1886–1886
Creston
1890–today
18801950today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Creston’s history

What year was Creston founded?

The Creston post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.