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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Welcome to Alto ...

Alto is located in Columbia County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Alto, you might consider that their post office opened in 1882.

Alto is 1,910 feet [582 m] above sea level.<2>.

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

Area Code for Alto: 509

Communities Also Named Alto ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 18 communities that are also named Alto - they are located in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota (2), Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

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

Communities near Alto ...

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

  • Dayton
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Waitsburg
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Prescott
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Prescott is located in Walla Walla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prescott
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 310 people
  • Starbuck
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Relief
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Relief is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Relief
  • Huntsville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Huntsville is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Huntsville
  • Menoken
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Menoken is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Menoken
  • Delaney
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Delaney is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delaney
  • Coppei
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Coppei is located in Walla Walla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coppei
  • Grange City ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Grange City is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grange City

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 Alto. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Alto.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Alto. 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 Alto.

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

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Alto ...

Looking for more information about Alto? 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 Alto, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Alto.

Adding Alto to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Alto 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 Alto was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<4>

From that list, the Alto post office opened in 1882. The Alto post office closed in 1903.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Alto.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Washington's counties, including Columbia, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Alto - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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/