Aloha, Washington

Aloha, Washington
Railroad trestle of Aloha Mill & Lumber Company, c. 1921
Railroad trestle of Aloha Mill & Lumber Company, c. 1921
Aloha is located in Washington (state)
Aloha
Aloha
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Aloha is located in the United States
Aloha
Aloha
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Coordinates: 47°12′03″N124°10′05″W / 47.20083°N 124.16806°W / 47.20083; -124.16806
CountryUnited States
StateWashington
CountyGrays Harbor
Elevation
59 ft (18 m)
Time zoneUTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-7 (PDT)
Area code360
GNIS feature ID1511961[1]

Aloha is an unincorporated community in Grays Harbor County, in the U.S. state of Washington. It is located two miles east of the Pacific Ocean at Beaver Creek in west central Grays Harbor County.

History

Logging crew of Aloha Mill & Lumber Company loading logs onto railroad cars, c. 1921

The community was named after the Hawaiian-language word aloha.[2] The name may have been inspired by the song "Aloha ʻOe".[3]

Aloha was once home to Aloha Mill & Lumber Company. It was founded by R. D. Emerson and W. H. Dole in 1905. The name, a Hawaiian greeting, was chosen by members of the Dole family, who were landowners and business people in Hawaii. In 1920, Aloha Mill & Lumber Co. successfully bid on a unit of timber near Moclips, six miles away from its mill. For the next two years the company toiled at constructing a railroad to the sale site. Heavy rains during the winter months, 25 to 30 inches a month, delayed the start of logging until the summer of 1922.

References

  1. ^U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Aloha, Washington
  2. ^Meany, Edmond S. (1923). Origin of Washington geographic names. Seattle: University of Washington Press. p. 6.
  3. ^Hook, J. N. (June 10, 2014). All Those Wonderful Names. Open Road Media. p. 234. ISBN 978-1-4976-1186-3.