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Ellensburg was an early center of commerce in Washington and was among the first cities in the state to have electrical service. The city launched a bid to become Washington state's capital in 1889, preparing a site in the Capital Hill neighborhood for government offices.
Learn about the history of Ellensburg, where the City got its name, and about the 1889 fire, and how Ellensburg rebuilt.
Article History. Ellensburg, city, seat (1883) of Kittitas county, central Washington, U.S., on the Yakima River, 28 miles (45 km) north of Yakima. The first white man settled there in 1867, and three years later the valley’s first trading post, called Robbers Roost, was opened.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Dec 23, 2005 · Ellensburg, the county seat of Kittitas County, is located three miles from the confluence of the Yakima River and Wilson Creek near the geographic center of Washington. The site was a gathering place for the Kittitas band of the Yakama Indians and other Columbia plateau tribes.
Local past events and people are recorded in materials held at the Ellensburg Public Library, including hundreds of books, photos, historic collections and minutes, notes and agendas from local community clubs and organizations. List of north wall records.
Ellensburg, originally named Ellensburgh for the wife of town founder John Alden Shoudy, was founded in 1871. The town grew rapidly in the 1880s following the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway and was officially incorporated on November 26, 1883.
Earlier that decade, the county's first flour mill was established near Ellensburg. It was quickly followed by four others. Although the county's yellowish flour was deemed suitable only for local consumption and for trade with the Orient, wheat production grew annually until the turn of the century.
