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History · Mossyrock

Mossyrock’s post office opened in 1875, and 10% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1957 on, and the census since 1950.

1875first post office
0on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Mossyrock’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Mossyrock began

When was Mossyrock founded?

1875

The Mossyrock post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 356 in 19502020 census: 768151 years
Founding year: the first Mossyrock post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Mossyrock’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Mossyrock’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewJames Riley House: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Mossyrock came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Mossyrock.

Read it all →

The city began as a trading post named Mossy Rock in 1852, after a 200-foot (61 m) high moss-covered rock at the east end of Klickitat Prairie. The Indian name for the area of Mossyrock was Coulph.

The city council, in late 2020, voted to disregard requirements for restaurants as set forth by state laws that were introduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The council admitted that it could not supersede state authority. Dining establishments in Mossyrock continued to follow COVID-19 guidelines.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Mossyrock, 1875 to 1957

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1875Post officeThe Mossy Rock post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1910Born hereNorm Bright is born here
  5. 1933In the archiveJames Riley House
  6. 1957On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Mossyrock, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s2 items
James Riley House1933James Riley HouseJames Riley House1933James Riley House
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Date unknown1 to date
James Riley HouseDate?James Riley House
Today4 recent
Nacho's Mexican Restaurant2023Nacho's Mexican RestaurantLemon Tree Café & Espresso2023Lemon Tree Café & EspressoG Theatre2023G TheatreMossyrock PD washington (2)2011Mossyrock PD washington (2)
On the map

Mossyrock on the map, 1957 to 1998

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mossyrock. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Mossyrock on the 1957 USGS mapMossyrock on the 1987 USGS mapMossyrock on the 1998 USGS map1957Morton sheet · 1:62,500

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

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

James Riley House
Retake this viewJames Riley House, 1933

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Mossyrock’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Mossyrock, census by census

02004006008001960198020002020768

Grew from 356 people in 1950 to 768 in 2020.

8 censuses, 1950–2020.

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

Questions about Mossyrock’s history

What year was Mossyrock founded?

The Mossyrock post office opened in 1875, 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 Wikimedia Commons (6), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.