Four Lakes is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

Spokane County Spokane County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 539,339, making it the fourth-most populous county in Washington. The largest city and county seat is Spokane, the second largest cit ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, United States, just southwest of the city of

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

, and north of Cheney. As of the 2010 census, its population was 512. Both

Interstate 90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...

and SR 904 run through Four Lakes and the junction of the two is located near the center of town. Four Lakes was founded in 1879 by G.H. Morgan. The community was so named on account of there being four lakes near the original town site. It is speculated the fourth lake, is now a marsh south of Meadow Lake, which was drained by the ditch, blasted through basalt, which Minnie Creek flows through, under SR 904, south of the rodeo grounds.

Economy

Largely because Four Lakes is a bedroom community for its neighbors such as Cheney and Spokane, there are very few businesses . A hair salon, a tavern, a dog grooming business, and a convenience store are among the small handful of businesses that call Four Lakes home. Most of the businesses in Four Lakes have been located there for many years and are firmly rooted. Farms are also plentiful around Four Lakes. The small community has its own post office, water district, and volunteer fire department.

Schools

A school for first through eighth grade students operated in Four Lakes from 1917 to 1959, when it merged into the

Cheney School District Cheney School District No. 360 is a public school district in Spokane County, Washington and serves the towns of Cheney, Airway Heights, and the surrounding area. The district offers classes from Kindergarten to Grade 12. As of 2018, the distr ...

. Most elementary students in Four Lakes now attend Betz Elementary, while older students attend either Cheney High School or Cheney Middle School. A very small fraction of high school-age students may attend Three Springs High School in Cheney.

The Battle of Four Lakes

Climate

This

climatic Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologic ...

region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Four Lakes has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.Climate Summary for Four Lakes, Washington
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References

Heather's Canine Cuts {{authority control Census-designated places in Spokane County, Washington Census-designated places in Washington (state)