RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Oregon >> Clackamas County >> KelsoIndex...

Welcome to Kelso ...

Kelso is located in Clackamas County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Kelso, you might consider that their post office opened in 1894.

Kelso is 710 feet [216 m] above sea level.<2>.

Time Zone: Kelso lies in the Pacific Time Zone (PST/PDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Codes for Kelso: 503 & 971<3>

Communities Also Named Kelso ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 21 communities that are also named Kelso - they are located in Arkansas, California (2), Idaho (2), Indiana (2), Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska (2), North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ontario (2), Saskatchewan, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Kelso.

Communities near Kelso ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Kelso.

  • Portland
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Gresham
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Gresham is located in Multnomah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gresham
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 110,031 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gresham <4>
  • Lake Oswego
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
  • Oregon City
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • West Linn
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
  • Camas
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Camas is located in Clark County (WA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camas
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 25,981 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Camas <4>
  • Happy Valley
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
  • Milwaukie
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Troutdale
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Washougal
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Kelso. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Kelso.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Kelso. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Kelso.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Kelso. See our Newspapers Page for Kelso.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Kelso ...

Looking for more information about Kelso? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Kelso, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Kelso.

Adding Kelso to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Kelso in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found (so far) for Kelso was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<5>

From that list, the Kelso post office opened in 1894. The Kelso post office closed in 1904.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Kelso.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Oregon's counties, including Clackamas, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Kelso - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<3>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 503 code has been Overlayed with the 971 area code. New phone numbers in the Kelso area will be assigned with one of these codes: 503 or 971. As a result, placing a call in the Kelso area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>A copy of the Blevins & Helbock Post Office list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/