Talk:Forest, Washington

PROD removal, May 2024
Hey everyone!

Coming to the defense of another Lewis County community article! It's clear to me that Forest is an unincorporated community, it still exists and has since at least the late 1890s. The PROD descrip does not give credence to the post office or voting districts that are currently ref'd and therefore the article should be deleted on those merits.

However, I support keeping the Forest article as well as keeping it classified as a UC. This is based on the long read ahead of you and the research that found plenty of past and recent history.

As a starter and background, I'd like potential readers of this discussion, or the potential AfD, to take a gander at the source link at the end of this paragraph of a two-part newspaper series I often refer to from the local newspaper, The Chronicle (Centralia, Washington) titled, If Towns Could Talk from 2002, particularly this one page report on Forest. It provides a deeper look into the history, etymology (not really certain how the name of Forest came about), early economy, photos, and more.

Let's begin with sourcing by talking about the sources of GNIS, Meany, and Forte. Although there are some issues in those sources, they have not been proven to be wrong in this article. Declaring that a combination of a post office, a grange, and a voting district, cannot also be a town or a community is a tough sell. Even if we ignore the importance of post offices from back in those days, or that voting districts represent people in a community, granges weren't just a bingo and rental hall back then. It was the definition of community. It is not up to us as editors to judge what something was because of what today is.

But, not everyone has to agree so let's get to sourcing, sourcing, sourcing to achieve notability. Below is a timeline list with sourcing provided. I've broken it up into two groups, the first being the town's history and the second section focusing on the Forest school. Why? There's was a f-ton on the school to be found.


 * Crossroads community, and farming article, with mention of early homesteading in 1850
 * Repair of gravel and plank road leading to Chehalis; also post office delivery info on same page, 1900
 * Local grange history articles about creation and/or milestone celebrations, of Forest Grange, 1904
 * Interview from 1994 with woman born and raised in Forest recalling plank road, school, and that Forest "looks a lot like it always has", 1913
 * Build and dedication of new grange hall, 1916
 * Draft roll, ten listed from Forest, for the first world war, 1918
 * Build of permanent Boy Scout camp, 1920
 * Creation of "poor house" retirement facility during the Great Depression, converted into a sanatorium, nursing home, and then as a present-day homeless shelter for kids and moms, 1930s
 * Proposed route of gas pipeline near Forest, 1964
 * Updated FEMA flood maps including "the community of Forest", 2003
 * History of an 1880s corner store in Forest, still in existence, and its use as a "stage stop and post office", 2010
 * The "tiny crossroads community of Forest", 2011

Forest School:


 * Report about district consolidation, with Forest School the center-point, and given high-praise ala Nic Cage; also student population of 70 and describing the community and its residents in decent detail over two columns (various reports over the next few years will also describe student pop. and achievements), 1911
 * New $8,000 school building bond passed, 1926 but rejected the following year, 1927
 * Build by the WPA for a $3500 gym, 1937
 * Fire destroys schoolhouse but gym and teacher's cottage saved, 1946
 * School, though closed, used as a site for a children's handicap education program, 1955-1958
 * Since school closure in 1950, buildings on grounds had been rented and now for sale, 1966
 * Forest School property listed as surplus, 1972
 * Article from 1974, teacher from Forest school recalling the building and community, school mentioned as no longer around

I know this has become a long read, but I want to finalize by saying that early newspaper reports of Forest (also synonymously referred to as Newaukum Prairie), particularly in articles titled "Local News" or "Happenings", are abundant. I do mean abundant, as in hundreds. Here's four of the many, from 1897, 1900, 1936, and 1945. Yes, it's just comings-and-goings, someone opened a mercantile shop, the reverend's daughter married a son of a prominent businessman, someone totaled their Model-T...but it does prove a community. There's also dozens of articles of a semi-pro(?) grange league baseball team in Forest during the late 1920s into the mid-30s. I'd show the refs for it, but my husband talks enough about that infernal sport. There was a Forest Tennis Club, Gardening Club, and other organized groups between the 1900s and 1930s. Even if the argument is that Forest doesn't exist now, we can certainly agree that it did...and instead of removal of the article and therefore the removal of Forest from our collective knowledge, we can simply reclassify.

However, the community still exists and a reclassify, just like deletion of an article of a community that existed, is not warranted.

We should save this article as is and obviously expand upon with the history and sources recently found.

Shortiefourten (talk) 18:00, 15 May 2024 (UTC)


 * The name came from the postal service, and newaukum prairie contains its identity in its name. The sources speak for them selves and don't say what you think they do. James.folsom (talk) 00:20, 17 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Newaukum Prairie is separate a bit to the west of Forest although they do share a zip code along with Chehalis Isla 🏳️‍⚧ 11:41, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

Shortiefourten (talk) 18:00, 15 May 2024 (UTC)