Editing Stevenson, Washington (section)

==History==
[[Image:Port entrance - Stevenson, Washington 2.jpg|thumb|left|Entrance to the Port of Skamania County in Stevenson, November 2016]]

Stevenson is named for early settler George H. Stevenson.<ref>{{cite book|last=Meany|first=Edmond S.|title=Origin of Washington geographic names|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015027074981;view=1up;seq=306|year=1923|publisher=University of Washington Press|location=Seattle|page=290}}</ref>  The Stevenson family, who settled in the Gorge in the 1800s from Missouri, founded the town of Stevenson on the old Shepard donation land claim. Under the auspices of the Stevenson Land Company, George Stevenson purchased the original townsite for $24,000 in 1893, building the town along the lower flat near the river. Settlers expanded the original dock to serve the daily arrivals of sternwheelers unloading passengers, cargo and loading logs.

In 1893, in a dispute over rental fees, an unknown crew transported the county records from the town of Cascades to Stevenson. Stevenson became the county seat of Skamania overnight. Stevenson was officially incorporated on December 16, 1907. In 1908 the [[Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway]] arrived, pushing the town up the hill away from the river. Streets were graded, wooden sidewalks constructed and the city asked residents to keep their cows from roaming the streets.<ref>{{cite web|title=History of Stevenson|url=http://www.cityofstevenson.com/history.html|publisher=City of Stevenson, Washington|url-status=usurped|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20130109091059/http://www.cityofstevenson.com/history.html|archive-date=January 9, 2013|accessdate=July 13, 2012}}</ref>