City of Longview | |
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City | |
Downtown Longview
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Location of Longview, Washington |
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Coordinates: 46°8′34″N 122°57′20″W / 46.14278°N 122.95556°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Washington |
County | Cowlitz |
Settled | 1850s |
Incorporated | February 14, 1924 |
Government | |
• Type | Council-Manager |
• City Manager | David Campbell |
• Mayor | Don Jensen |
Area | |
• City | 14.79 sq mi (38.31 km2) |
• Land | 14.49 sq mi (37.53 km2) |
• Water | 0.30 sq mi (0.78 km2) |
Elevation | 20 ft (6 m) |
Population (2010) | |
• City | 36,648 |
• Estimate (2015) | 36,848 |
• Density | 2,529.2/sq mi (976.5/km2) |
• Metro | 103,468 (US: 346th) |
Time zone | PST (UTC-8) |
• Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) |
ZIP codes | 98632 |
Area code | 360 |
FIPS code | 53-40245 |
GNIS feature ID | 1506304 |
Website | www.mylongview.com |
Longview is a city in Cowlitz County, Washington, United States. It is the principal city of the "Longview, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area", which encompasses all of Cowlitz County. Longview's population was 36,648 at the time of the 2010 census and it is the largest city in Cowlitz County. The city is located in southwestern Washington, at the junction of the Cowlitz and Columbia rivers. Longview shares a border with Kelso to the east, which is the county seat.
The Cowlitz Indian Tribe, a federally recognized tribe of Cowlitz people, is headquartered in Longview.
The Long-Bell Lumber Company, led by Robert A. Long, decided in 1918 to buy a great expanse of timberland in Cowlitz County. A total of 14,000 workers were needed to run the two large mills as well as lumber camps that were planned. The number of workers needed was more than a lumber town, or the nearest town, could provide. Long planned and built a complete city in 1921 that could support a population of up to 50,000 and provide labor for the mills as well as attracting other industries. Several buildings in the city were built from Long's private funds.
Longview was the location of Mount Coffin, an ancestral burial ground for the local indigenous people.
The Longview area was first settled by European-Americans, led by pioneers Harry and Rebecca Jane Huntington, in 1849. The area was named Monticello in honor of Thomas Jefferson's home in Virginia. In 1852 a group assembled in what would be called the "Monticello Convention" to petition Congress for statehood to be called "Columbia". Congress agreed to statehood but as Washington, after President Washington, to avoid confusion with the District of Columbia. A monument to the convention is located near the Longview Civic Center.