Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Services in Ocosta, WA

Ocosta is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Grays Harbor County that was counted by the Census Bureau for the first time in the 2020 census, when it had 502 residents.

Originally called Ocosta-by-the-Sea, the community was named for its position near the Pacific Ocean coast.

Ocosta was created by the Northern Pacific Railroad after Aberdeen refused to pay the cash bonus the railroad demanded for a connection, so the NP platted its own rival town to bypass the city.

Ocosta was incorporated as a city on July 29, 1891, at the height of its railroad boom.

On April 22, 1892, Ocosta became the westernmost point on the telegraph network, and the first Northern Pacific train arrived on May 7, 1892, timed to the 200th anniversary of the European discovery of Grays Harbor.

The railroad soon found Ocosta's harbor and shoreline unsuitable, struck a deal with Aberdeen instead, and the Panic of 1893 halted construction, dooming the bypass town.

On November 19, 1932, with only about 80 people left in town, Ocosta's residents voted 58 to 5 to disincorporate, and the Town of Ocosta formally ceased to exist on November 25, 1932.

A post office served Ocosta from 1890 until 1943, and the community still uses ZIP Code 98520.

The community lends its name to the Ocosta School District, whose elementary school — completed in 2016 near the coast — was built with its gymnasium roof as a refuge for about 1,000 people, making it the first tsunami vertical evacuation structure in North America.