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| settlements established in 1905 | |
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Richland is a city located in Benton County in southeastern Washington , at the confluence of the Yakima River and the Columbia River . As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 38,708, with a 2005 population estimate of 43,520. Along with the nearby cities of Pasco and Kennewick , Richland is one of the Tri-Cities Of Washington . HISTORY For centuries the village of Chemna stood at the mouth of the current Yakima river. Today that village site is called Columbia Point. From this village the Wanapum , Yakama and Walla Walla Indians harvested the salmon runs entering the Yakima river. Captain William Clark of the Lewis And Clark Expedition visited there on October 17, 1805. Formative years In 1904-1905, W.R. Amon & his son Howard, purchased 2,300 acres and proposed a town site on the north bank of the Yakima river. Postal authorities approved the designation of this town site as Richland in 1905. In 1906 the town was registered at the Benton County Courthouse. It was incorporated on April 28 , 1910 as a Washington Fourth Class City. The war years Richland was a sleepy little farm town until the US Army purchased 1660 km2 (640 square miles - half the size of Rhode Island ) along the Columbia River for the war effort, evicting the 300 residents of Richland as well as those of the now vanished towns of White Bluffs and Hanford just upriver. The army turned it into a bedroom community for the workers on its Manhattan Project at the nearby Manhattan Engineering District (later the Hanford Nuclear Reservation ). The population increased from 300 in July and August of 1943 to 25,000 by the end of World War II in August of 1945 . Richland became a closed city (federally controlled Atomic Energy community), with access restricted to residents and other personnel authorized by the U.S. Army. Mail was postmarked Seattle and many addresses were misleading. The end of the war With the end of the war, that Hanford workers camp, originally located 15 miles north of Richland at the old Hanford town site, was closed down. Although many of them disbanded as the war effort wound down, some of these workers moved to Richland, offsetting the depopulation that might otherwise have occurred. The Cold War boom Fears that the Soviet Union ’s intentions were aggressive set off the Cold War in 1947. When the Soviet Union developed and tested their first nuclear weapon in 1949, the U.S. nuclear program was reinvigorated. Richland’s Cold War construction boom resulted in Richland’s population growing to 27,000 people by 1952. Many of these people lived in a construction camp of trailers located in what is now north Richland. With time these trailers were vacated and the core city grew. Richland was incorporated in 1958 as a chartered First Class City, an open self-governed city. Richland's dependency on the federal Hanford facility changed little at this time because Hanford's mission as a weapons materials production site continued during the Cold War years. After the production boom With the shutdown of the last production reactor in 1987 , the area transitioned to environmental cleanup and technology. Now, many Richland residents are employed at the Hanford site in its environmental cleanup mission. |
| "http://wwwfwsgov/hanfordreach/" class="copylinks" target="_blank">Hanford Reach National Monument |
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Image:RichlandWaPNNL 1jpgPacific Northwest National Laboratory Campus In Richland PNNL Has Been Operated For The US Department Of Energy By
| "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Battelle_Memorial_Institute" class="copylinks">Battelle Memorial Institute since 1965 (January 2006) |
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Image:RichlandWaIndustryjpgIndustrial Hearth Melting Produces
| "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Titanium" class="copylinks">Titanium in Richland (January 2006) |
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