RITZVILLE

A short history of Ritzville

The first settler in what would become modern Ritzville was William McKay in 1880. The town was named, however, after Phillip Ritz, who had settled south of modern Ritzville two years earlier. Ritz had come to Walla Walla in 1861 and established a large orchard just outside of town known as Ritz, which consisted of over 100,000 trees of all types, including many fruit trees and shrubbery. Starting in 1866, he worked extensively to establish a second transcontinental railroad. His orchard business entailed many trips across the country by wagon, these trips gave him great political contact and influence.

By December 1880, Ritzville's townsite had been platted by John W. Sprague on behalf of his company, The Northern Pacific Railway. In 1881, McKay built the first house on the townsite. The Northern Pacific grade was under construction in the vicinity, and McKay's home was used as a makeshift hotel for the workers and associated transients.

With the railroad came a new wave of settlers to the area. In the summer of 1881, McKay erected the first store, and the railroad built a depot nearby, which also served as a hotel, theater, and meeting hall. At that time, the fledgling village had a population of around 50, and the school consisted of a lean-to against a house. The town's water supply was the railroad tank because it was not thought that water could be found in the ground. The first religious services in Adams County were held in Ritzville in April 1882 at the McKay Home, and the First Congregational Church was soon organized. A church was built in 1885. The post office was established in 1883 by J.L. Johnson of Walla Walla. He also purchased McKay's store. Soon afterwards, many more businesses were founded. The town had begun to establish itself as a significant wheat shipping center within the Big Bend Country, and its growth continued steadily throughout the decade.

As the town's reliance on the railroad water tank became unsustainable, efforts were undertaken to locate an underground water source. Initial attempts were unsuccessful; however, a viable well was eventually discovered approximately 1-mile (1.6 km) east of the original town site. In response, most property owners agreed to relocate closer to the new water source, except for a large hotel, which was not feasible to move. Subsequently, water was also located at the original site, allowing the town to remain in place. By 1887, Ritzville supported a growing commercial and civic infrastructure, including three general merchandise stores, one drugstore, one saloon, two blacksmith shops, two lumber yards, two livery stables, one harness shop, two hotels, and a large two-story wooden schoolhouse serving approximately 100 students.

On June 6, 1888, a fire caused by a defective flue wiped out nearly all of the business section of town. Ritzville had no fire department at the time, and its citizens were unable to combat the flames effectively. Rebuilding got underway quickly, resulting in the town's first brick building in 1889, built by the town's first mayor, N.H. Greene. It still stands and is currently part of the Ritzville Historic District.

Following the rebuilding from the fire, Ritzville was incorporated as a town in 1888 and was officially re-incorporated as a city on July 17, 1890, after Washington became a state. The first banking institution, The Adams County Bank (later First National Bank), would follow in April 1891. After another downtown fire in 1894, a waterworks system was installed at a cost of $20,000. The first permanent Adams County courthouse was also built in 1892.

After the Panic of 1893 had subsided in 1898, Ritzville was experiencing another boom, with demand for property rising and scores of buildings being built. Telephone service was established in August 1899. By the turn of the century, the population had exceeded 1,200. The town finally received a volunteer fire department in 1901, with equipment funded by the citizens. Also in 1901, Ritzville received the title of the greatest wheat shipping point in the world. Between August of that year and August 1902, approximately 1,967,725 bushels of wheat were received in Ritzville warehouses for shipment, and 1,990 rail cars of wheat and flour were billed out. These numbers would only be exceeded in 1902. On January 17, 1902, Ritzville was electrified for the first time, run by a steam-powered dynamo.

A chamber of commerce was formed in 1903, and the following year, the courthouse was doubled in size. The city received a Carnegie library in 1907, the only one in Adams County. It still serves as the town's library today. By the time of The Great Depression, growth had slowed, and Ritzville settled in as a small town.

In the 1960s, Interstate 90 was constructed around the south end of town, replacing U.S. Route 10 and re-routing U.S. Route 395 and its traffic away from downtown. The town's arrested development from then on preserved it and formed the core of the designated Ritzville Historic District in 1990.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Ritzville, Washington, revision 1377399273 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.