Beverly (Washington)

Beverly is a small community-free area on the banks of the Columbia River in Grant County in central Washington state . A few hundred people live in the place. Located a few miles below Wanapum Dam , it hugs the base of Sentinel Gap , a massive basalt formation in part of the Saddle Mountains that overlooks the Columbia River.

history

Beverly was named after Beverly , Massachusetts by HR Williams around 1905 .

Beverly housed hundreds of railroad workers from 1905 through the 1920s when the Milwaukee Railroad was built. The company built the Beverly Railroad Bridge over the Columbia River just north of Beverly for $ 1 million ; it was completed in 1909 after almost two years of construction. The building materials were transported by steamship from places downstream after they were delivered there via other rail lines.

Beverly's early success was due in part to the steep climbs of the railroad tracks, which required the provision of supporting locomotives to handle the climbs. Color brochures were subsequently printed and distributed by companies promoting Beverly's long growing season and sheltered location.

Milwaukee Road went bankrupt in 1977 and in the early 1980s Washington State rebuilt the railroad tracks east of Beverly to a fork near Royal City , but the hundred-year-old black iron bridge still spans the river today.

During World War II and well into the 1980s, thousands of cars were moved through Beverly on the way to Hanford . During this time the Beverly train station (which is now abandoned) was reconstructed and expanded. Sometime in the late 1990s or early 2000s, the station was demolished.

Beverly today

Beverly does not remain a local authority although it has its own zip code. The old post office burned down due to arson in 2003 , the only case in a Washington post office in the past 50 years. Today the community is served by a makeshift post office. The facility was designed to serve Washington communities in the event of forest fires or other disasters. The current mobile facility has been left here for the past six years to service zip code 99321.

Although residents campaigned to keep their post office, residents of nearby Mattawa have suggested merging the historic zip code with that of Mattawa.