Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Lyle, WA

Lyle is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Klickitat County, Washington, sitting on the north bank of the Columbia River where it is joined by the Klickitat River.

Established around 1859, the community was originally called "Klickitat Landing"; its first European settler was Egbert French, who sold his holdings in 1866 to James O. Lyle of The Dalles, Oregon, for whom the town is named.

Mail originally reached Lyle by steamer from across the Columbia, and when the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway arrived in 1908 the present townsite was platted in 1909, leaving the older riverfront site known as "downtown."

Lyle's population has stayed near 500 for decades — 530 people in 221 households in 2000, 499 in 2010, and 518 at the 2020 census.

The community is split between a small downtown on the riverbank, with a grocery store, museum, tavern, and historic hotel, and newer homes built on terraces in the hills above the river with views over the Columbia.

The Lyle Community Schools campus combines the area's elementary, middle, and high schools on one site at the north end of town, also drawing students from nearby Dallesport and Murdock.

State Route 14 runs through Lyle along the Columbia River Gorge, and State Route 142 follows the Klickitat River north from town toward Goldendale.

Lyle has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate under the Köppen classification, with warm, dry summers in the rain shadow at the eastern end of the Columbia River Gorge.