Ethel is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

located along

U.S. Route 12 U.S. Route 12 or U.S. Highway 12 (US 12) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway, running from Aberdeen, Washington, to Detroit, Michigan, for almost . The highway has mostly been superseded by Interstate 90 (I-90 ...

in east

Lewis County, Washington Lewis County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 82,149. The county seat is Chehalis, and its largest city is Centralia. Lewis County comprises the Centralia, WA Micropolitan Stat ...

, United States. It sits between Mary's Corner and Salkum.

History

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

called Ethel has been in operation since 1886. The town's moniker was intended to be "Lacamas", after a creek that flowed through the town, however the

Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. History The practice of having a government official ...

at the time, William F. Vilas, declared that too many towns in Washington state were named after Native tribes, and choose Ethel, without an explanation. The reason and origins for the Ethel name, despite several theories, remains obscure. Ethel's early economy was derived by the logging of old growth timber and farming. Education was provided at the Hopewell School, a one-room schoolhouse featuring eight different grade levels. The school would become the location for the Ethel Grange Hall. The town also formed teams to participate in Grange League baseball.

Government and politics

Politics

Ethel has historically voted as favoring the Republican Party and

Conservatism Conservatism is a Philosophy of culture, cultural, Social philosophy, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, Convention (norm), customs, and Value (ethics and social science ...

. As this is an

, there are no defined bounds, and the precinct may be incongruous with the census boundaries. Third parties that received ballots in the 2020 election include 15 votes for the Libertarian Party and 4 votes for the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

. There were 5 votes for write-in candidates.

References

Populated places in Lewis County, Washington Unincorporated communities in Lewis County, Washington Unincorporated communities in Washington (state) {{LewisCountyWA-geo-stub