Place:Vader, Lewis, Washington, United States

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Vader is a city in Lewis County, Washington, United States. The population was 629 at the 2020 census.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Vader was originally named Little Falls and incorporated on January 12, 1906. The name was changed to Sopenah by the Northern Pacific Railway because there was already a Little Falls on their rail lines, Little Falls, Minnesota. The townspeople were unsatisfied with the new name and petitioned the Washington State Legislature to change it to Toronto. A dispute then arose which was resolved by a compromise agreement to name the town after a German resident (and Civil War veteran) named Martin Vader. The town name was changed to Vader by the legislature on March 25, 1913. Vader later moved to Florida.

More recently, a motion was made to change the name back to its original name, Little Falls. The motion was placed on the November 3, 2015 ballot to determine voter approval. But as of the last count (November 4, 2015), residents chose to retain Vader as the town name by a 3-to-2 margin.

Vader is the birthplace of the novelist and critic Robert Cantwell and silent film actor Herbert Heyes.

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