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Washington Counties

There are 39 counties in the state of Washington.

Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory and admitted to the Union as the 42nd state in 1889. The first counties were created from unorganized territory in 1845.

Whitman County, Washington

Whitman County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Colfax
Year Organized: 1871
Square Miles: 2,159

Court House:

400 North Main Street
County Courthouse
Colfax, WA 99111-0000

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Marcus Whitman, a Presbyterian missionary who was killed by members of the Cayuse Native American tribe.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Whitman County was created 29 November 1871 from Stevens County

Whitman County, located in southeastern Washington, has a population of 40,740 (2000 Census) and a land area of 2,159 square miles. The county was formed on November 29, 1871, and is named after Marcus Whitman, the missionary killed (along with his wife and other followers) by Cayuse in 1847. Whitman County is in the Palouse country, and is bordered by Spokane County to the north (and a small part of Lincoln County at its northwest corner), by Adams County to the west (and a small part of Franklin County at its southwest corner), by the Snake River to the south, and by the Idaho state line to the east. The county has a primarily agricultural history, with an emphasis on wheat (today it ranks first in wheat production among Washington counties and second among counties in the nation); it was also known for its fruit orchards along the Snake River before the 1970s, when lakes inundated them upon completion of the Little Goose and Lower Granite dams. Although agriculture remains significant, today higher education plays a larger role: Washington State University (WSU), located in Pullman, reported 18,690 students enrolled on the Pullman campus in 2005 and is the single largest employer in the county. Pullman, with a population in 2000 of 24,675 (which includes WSU's student population), is the largest town in Whitman County. The county seat, Colfax, recorded a population of 2,844 in the 2000 Census.
File 7882: Full Text >

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,178 square miles (5,640 km²), of which, 2,159 square miles (5,593 km²) of it is land and 18 square miles (47 km²) of it (0.84%) is water. It is part of the Palouse, a wide and rolling prairie-like region of the middle Columbia basin.

Neighboring Counties:

Spokane County, Washington north
Benewah County, Idaho northeast
Latah County, Idaho east
Nez Perce County, Idaho southeast
Asotin County, Washington south/southeast
Garfield County, Washington south
Columbia County, Washington south
Franklin County, Washington southwest
Adams County, Washington west
Lincoln County, Washington northwest

Cities and Towns:

- Albion	town	Incorporated Area
- Colfax (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Colton	town	Incorporated Area
- Endicott	town	Incorporated Area
- Farmington	town	Incorporated Area
- Garfield	town	Incorporated Area
- La Crosse	town	Incorporated Area
- Lamont	town	Incorporated Area
- Malden	town	Incorporated Area
- Oakesdale	town	Incorporated Area
- Palouse	city	Incorporated Area
- Pullman	city	Incorporated Area
- Rosalia	town	Incorporated Area
- Sprague	city	Incorporated Area
- St. John	town	Incorporated Area
- Tekoa	city	Incorporated Area
- Uniontown	town	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

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