PULLMAN

A short history of Pullman

In 1876, about five years after European-American settlers established Whitman County on November 29, 1871, Bolin Farr arrived in Pullman. He camped at the confluence of Dry Flat Creek and Missouri Flat Creek on the bank of the Palouse River. Within the year, Dan McKenzie and William Ellsworth arrived to stake claims for adjoining land. The location was called Three Forks although this was never an official name for the town. In the spring of 1881, Orville Stewart opened a general store and Bolin Farr platted about 10 acres (4.0 ha) of his land for a town. Daniel McKenzie, Bolin Farr, and Orville Stewart held a session one day to decide upon a name for their trading post, and after a lively discussion, the decision was made unanimous that it should be Pullman, which had been suggested by Orville Stewart. On September 30, 1881, Orville Stewart applied for a Post Office using the name Pullman. On October 28, 1881, the Palouse Gazette in Colfax, WA announced that a new town had been christened with the name Pullman at the location formerly known as Three Forks.

Pullman was incorporated on April 11, 1888, with a population of about 250–300 people. The city's original name, Three Forks, referred to the three small rivers that converge there: Missouri Flat Creek, Dry Fork, and the South Fork of the Palouse River. In 1884, Dan McKenzie and Charles Moore (of Moscow) replatted the site, which had been named for American industrialist George Pullman.

On March 28, 1890, the Washington State Legislature established the state's land grant college, but did not designate a location. Pullman leaders were determined to secure the new college and offered 160 acres (0.65 km2) of land for its campus. Idaho Territory had established its land grant college in 1889; the University of Idaho was to be in neighboring Moscow. On April 18, 1891, the site selection commission appointed by Washington's governor chose Pullman. On January 13, 1892, the institution opened with 59 students under the name Washington Agricultural College and School of Science. It was renamed the State College of Washington in 1905, more commonly known as "Washington State College," and became Washington State University in 1959.

In 1961, Pullman became a non-chartered code city under the mayor–council form of government. The city has an elected mayor with an elected seven-member council and an appointed administrative officer, the city administrator.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Pullman, Washington, revision 1380110649 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.