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The Columbian: How We Live: Washougal's heart steps to new beat
February 25, 2007
A report on the Washougal Town Square
This article can also be found on The Columbian web site.
How We Live: Washougal's heart steps to new beat
Sunday, February 25, 2007
DEAN BAKER Columbian staff writer
WASHOUGAL
-- This once-sleepy blue-collar town is waking up as a lively small
city with a brand new hub featuring businesses that cater to folks who
have built expensive houses along the Columbia River.
Working with entrepreneurs, the
city expects to finish a transformation of its long-dormant downtown by
the end of this year. The city is investing $5 million in streetscapes,
while developer Wes Hickey is building a two-story, 44,000-square-foot
commercial-residential center. He is also laying plans for other stores
and apartments.
City voters rejected a plan to
build a new city hall and civic center downtown. However, Washougal is
joining the city of Camas in planning a $10 million Camas-Washougal
Community Center. Other developers are planning a $300 million
public-private enterprise, RiverWalk on the Columbia, on the east edge
of town.
Famous jockey Victor Espinoza,
fresh from high-stakes races, has invested in an old Washougal
restaurant, giving it new life. He remodeled and reopened the Parker
House, closed since 1992.
In the past 10 years the city's
population has doubled as it has annexed nearly 2,000 acres to the
north. There, overlooking the Columbia River, subdivisions continue to
spring up each year, punctuating the hillsides with homes often valued
at $500,000 or more. Many new residents have chosen the area's rural
lifestyle while commuting across the river into Oregon for work.
That's a major change from the
past, when Washougal was a town of loggers, farmers and millworkers,
and modest bungalows were the rule.
The city is the 11th-fastest-growing city in Washington state, adding 32 percent to its population since 2000.
At the same time, this town of
11,350 is showing off a new awareness of its history. The
once-neglected Cottonwood Beach on the Columbia River has been turned
into $3.2 million, 80-acre Capt. William Clark Park, site of an 1806
camp for the Lewis and Clark expedition.
WASHOUGAL
Population: 11,350.
Median age: 33.9.
Major draws: Gateway to Columbia River Gorge, Pendleton Woolen Mills, Cottonwood Beach.
Major drawback: Open space is fast being consumed by development at north end of town.
Must see: Capt. William Clark
Park at Cottonwood Beach, Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge,
Parkers Landing Historical Park, Twin Rivers Heritage Museum.