Gale Metcalf of Kennewick is a lifelong Tri-Citian, retired Tri-City Herald employee and volunteer for the East Benton County Historical Museum. He writes the monthly history column.
The so-called Ditch of Death galvanized an entire community to bring a major safety feature to the canal within a week of a little boy’s drowning. On its 5-mile flow through what then comprised the small town of Kennewick, it had claimed the lives of 10 children.
When Catherine May entered Congress 66 years ago this month representing the Tri-Cities and the massive 4th Congressional District, women still were treated in many ways as second-class citizens.
If not for a Tennessee congressman, Tri-Cities, Washington, today likely would answer to Tri-Cities, Columbia, as in the state of Columbia, not the state of Washington.
Hanford historian Donald Sorenson will speak on the history of Day’s Pay on Nov. 9 at the East Benton County Historical Society Museum at Keewaydin at 205 Keewaydin Drive in Kennewick. His address is part of dedication ceremonies for a permanent Day’s Pay display at the museum.
When the top-secret Manhattan Project got underway early in World War II and arrived at Hanford, it needed a place to take care of the medical needs of its growing number of workers.