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. In 1871 John Shoudy and Mary Ellen Stewart Shoudy founded the town and in 1875 they platted the first streets. Ellensburg was incorporated in 1884. The Northern Pacific Railroad arrived in 1886, and the town prospered, becoming a center for banking and commerce and a social hub for farming and ranching families in the Kittitas Valley. Prosperity enabled Ellensburg to quickly rebuild after the fire of July 4, 1889. Washington State Normal School (now Central Washington University), chartered in 1891, became a major employer. On July 1, 1977, the downtown area became a National Historic District, and provides an important example of Western pioneer architecture. Each Labor Day weekend, the annual Kittitas County Fair and Ellensburg Rodeo draw world-class rodeo competitors and visitors from around the region.

Copyright ©2007 Northern Kittitas County Tribune. Reprinted with permission.