Tokeland, Washington
census-designated place in Pacific County, Washington
Tokeland is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pacific County, Washington, United States. The population was 158 at the 2020 census, a slight increase from 151 at the 2010 census. It is located on the north side of Willapa Bay near the Shoalwater Bay Indian Reservation.
The town was named after Chief Toke, an chief of the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe during the 19th century.
History
Tokeland is named after Chief Toke of the Shoalwater Bay Tribe. Toke made the area a summer home for himself and his family, and his presence was first documented there by Lieutenant John Meares after Toke approached Meares' ship in his canoe at the mouth of Willapa Bay in 1788.
In 1854, J. F. Barrows settled on Toke Point, but left only a few years later. No other known settlers appeared in the area until the arrival of George Brown in 1858. In 1885, Brown's daughter Lizzie, and her husband, William Kindred, built a home that became the Kindred Inn, and eventually as the Tokeland Hotel. When the town's first post office was established in 1894, the Kindreds operated it, and continued doing so for 17 years.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Tokeland, Washington” is census-designated place in Pacific County, Washington. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Tokeland, Washington and census-designated, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “census-designated place in Pacific County, Washington” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1510158. VIAF identifies the subject as 155175143. The Library of Congress control number is no2009137029. Authority coordinates are 46.709, -123.988. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 2010, 1788 and 1854.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Tokeland, Washington”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Tokeland, Washington primary sources, Tokeland, Washington archive and Tokeland research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Tokeland, Washington”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Tokeland, Washington” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.