Gabriel Franchère, in 1811, wrote of the Indian village at the mouth of the Kalama River, adding that it was called "Thlakalamah" .

Others maintain that the town name is associated with John Kalama (c. 1814 – c. 1870),[5] a carpenter from the Hawaiian island of Maui who came to the Pacific Northwest on a fur-trading vessel in the 1830s.

Only one year later, Meeker moved to north Puyallup, Washington, but he sold his Donation Land Claim to a Mr. John Davenport,[5] who, with a few others, permanently settled in the Kalama area.

In early 1870, Northern Pacific Railway scouts came to Cowlitz County to find an ideal terminus along the Columbia River.

Northern Pacific built a dock, a sawmill, a car shop, a roundhouse, a turntable, hotels, a hospital, stores, homes.

In just a few months in 1870, the working population skyrocketed to approximately 3,500 and the town had added tents, saloons, a brewery, and a gambling hall.

[11] From that stake, the Northern Pacific began building north to Puget Sound, ultimately reaching Commencement Bay at what was to become Tacoma before going bankrupt.

[11] The Portland-Hunters rail line in Oregon across the Columbia River from Kalama was completed in 1883 by Northern Pacific,[12] about the same time that the ceremonial spike was driven at a site west of Helena, Montana to mark the completion of the transcontinental Northern Pacific Railroad in the fall of 1883.

However the crossing times were excessive when the Tacoma had to work against the tide, and the ferry slip was soon moved to Goble at the north end of Sandy Island and directly across from Kalama.

According to Cowlitz County GIS data, the total incorporated area for the city of Kalama is 3.83 square miles (9.9 km2).

Residential areas are up the hill to the east and on the cliffs above town, portions of which have dramatic views overlooking the Columbia River.