On December 16, 1907, the Town of Stevenson is officially incorporated as a town of the fourth class when a certified copy of the Skamania County Commissioners' order incorporating the town is filed with the Washington Secretary of State's Office. Stevenson is a small settlement in the Columbia River Gorge just above the river's Upper Cascades. Settlers began arriving there in the 1850s and numbers increased in the 1890s. Voters approved incorporation by a large majority in an election held on November 1, 1907.
Overwhelmingly in Favor
A few homesteaders began settling in the area that would become Stevenson by the 1850s and many families had arrived by the 1890s. The Stevenson Land Company, organized by George H. Stevenson (1848-1923), George Bell, and Seymour Bell, platted the town of Stevenson on August 26, 1893.
As early as January 1886 some citizens of Stevenson had asked the Skamania Board of County Commissioners to incorporate their community. It did not happen then but by 1907 Stevenson residents were ready to organize a municipal government and incorporate the town. Growth in Stevenson up to this point was slowly increasing. A petition seeking incorporation was drawn up and presented to the County Commissioners. The Board scheduled an election on November 1, 1907, for those living within the boundaries of the proposed Town of Stevenson to vote on incorporating it.
The results were overwhelmingly in favor of incorporation. When the 64 votes were tallied, 55 were in favor and 9 against. The results were returned to the Board and the Commissioners certified the election and approved an Order of Incorporation of Stevenson, Washington, on December 2. Two days later the Skamania County Auditor certified the transcript and order for filing with the Secretary of State's office. Stevenson was officially incorporated as a town of the fourth class when the certified documents were filed in the Office of the Secretary of State on December 16, 1907.
First Elected Officials
Stevenson's first town officials were chosen in the same November 1st vote. Thomas Carr Avary (1859-1931) was elected mayor, and W. E. Miller was chosen as town clerk, S. L. Knox as town marshal, and H. Wetherell as treasurer. Elected to form the first town council were J. P. Gillette, A. Fleischhauer, John F. Sweeney, A. C. Sly, W. S. Young, Harry Hazard, and C. W. Udell.
The new mayor was a doctor from Georgia who had moved to Stevenson a few years earlier. According to the town's newspaper, the Skamania County Pioneer, Avary won because "by his own hands, the doctor helped clear land equal to 20 town lots, the stump land now crowned by the sanatorium, a skillful practitioner and stump-lifter" ("'Stump Lifter' Elected ...")
Avary's first wife was Virginia May Powell Avary (1861-1895), with whom he had one child, James Archer Avary (1881-1962). Shortly before moving to Stevenson he married Lorena (or La Rena) Forest (1880-1962). Avary was the first doctor in Stevenson. He had graduated from Southern Medical College in Georgia and served as an assistant surgeon during the 1898 Spanish American War. He later practiced medicine for eight years in Portland, Oregon.
Stevenson's first town council meeting was held on December 18, 1907, and the council enacted its Ordinance No. 1 on January 14, 1908. The town's population increased and decreased slowly over the years, reaching 1,590 as of 2024.
