Discover

Pullman is located at (46.732614, -117.171790). Elevation 2552 ft or 778 m above sea level.
'Pullman' is a city in Whitman County, Washington, United States. The population was 24,675 at the 2000 census.
The main campus of Washington State University is located in Pullman.

Contents

History

Formation

Further reading

Local events

Neighborhoods

Schools

Washington State University

Geography, Climate, and Demographics

Climate

Demographics

Transportation

External links

History

The city of Pullman was incorporated in 1886 with a population of 250 people. It was originally named 'Three Forks', after the three small rivers that converge there: Missouri Flat Creek, Dry Fork, and the South Fork of the Palouse River. The city was later renamed after railroad car maker George Pullman.
In 1961, Pullman became a non-chartered code city under the Mayor-Council form of government. The city has an elected mayor with an elected seven-member council and an appointed administrative officer, the city supervisor. The current mayor is Glenn A. Johnson who doubles as a professor at WSU's Edward R. Murrow School of Communication and is also the long-time WSU Cougars Football announcer in Martin Stadium and Basketball announcer at Beasley Coliseum.

Formation

The early history of Pullman is disputed.
One account holds that in September of 1877, Daniel G. McKenzie and family arrived from Kansas and settled in the area of the Palouse prairie called ''Three Forks''. Several other families, including the Bolin Farr family, arrived a short time later, and set up their homesteads next to the McKenzies.
Alternatively, a man named Bolin Farr, during an 1875 search for a homestead site, camped beside a meadow where three creeks joined. He later claimed the area as a homestead, and called it ''Three Forks Ranch''. By this account, Farr's first neighbors came two years later, in 1877, and settled homesteads cornering on his own. The town of ''Three Forks'' got its start from these homesteads. It was Bolin Farr who set aside a tract of land and platted it as town lots.
The first post office and store were not established until 1881. Either railroad car magnate George Pullman was already a friend of Farr, or it was hoped George Pullman would become a benefactor to the town, so instead of ''Three Forks'', the townsite was called ''Pullman'' in his honour. Early settler Orville Stewart suggested the name of ''Pullman'', in June 1881. Because of delays at the United States Postal Service in granting the request, Stewart ran the Post Office with some of his own money. Six months later, the Postal Service established an official Post Office at the town of Pullman.
The town came out of public ownership in 1881; private title to the land was severed, and the town was platted.

Further reading

★ Leaves of knowledge, , Elma, MacGibbon, Shaw & Borden, 1904,

Local events

WSU's Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum provides a venue that attracts big-name entertainment to the region. There are also locally produced campus music and theater events, as well as productions of the Regional Theatre of the Palouse and the Pullman Civic Theatre.
The Washington-Idaho Symphony performs in Pullman and in the Lewiston-Clarkston area. The Idaho Washington Concert Chorale performs in the region, occasionally in Pullman. A highlight of the regional music scene is the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival on the campus of the University of Idaho in nearby Moscow.
The university art museum hosts world-class art exhibits.
The Pullman holds a 4th of July fireworks celebration.
The city is home to the National Lentil Festival, held annually during harvest season.
In town and on the WSU campus there are Pac 10 football, basketball and other sports, as well as activity-filled football weekends. Every 2 years, WSU and Pullman host the Apple Cup football competition.

Neighborhoods

Pullman sits on four major hills that divide the city into nearly equal quarters:

★ Military Hill (north west)

★ Pioneer Hill (south east)

★ College Hill (north east)

★ Sunnyside Hill (south west)
An expanding high-tech industry is located on the north end of the city, anchored by Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL), founded by Edmund Schweitzer, a Ph.D. graduate of WSU. SEL and other firms are located within the 107-acre Pullman Industrial Park, run by the Port of Whitman County.
Eight miles east of Pullman is the town of Moscow, Idaho, home of the University of Idaho, and sister city to Pullman.

Schools

The Pullman School District consists of the following:

★ Franklin primary school

★ Jefferson primary school

★ Sunnyside primary school

★ Lincoln Middle School

★ Pullman High School
Pullman High School (PHS) is attended by about 700 students, and is the city's only public high school. It is located on Military Hill, and the mascot for its athletic teams is the Greyhound. PHS offers honors and advanced placement courses, plus Running Start course work through WSU and area community colleges.

Washington State University

Main articles: Washington State University

Pullman is the site of the largest and original campus of Washington State University (WSU), an NCAA Division I school. A member of the Pac 10 Conference. WSU is well known for its veterinary medicine, engineering, agriculture, pharmacy and communications schools.

Geography, Climate, and Demographics

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 23.3 km² (9.0 mi²), all land. The water supply is a natural aquifer.
The surrounding region called the Palouse prairie, or simply ''the Palouse'', is noteworthy for its fertile rolling hills where winter and spring wheat, barley, lentils and peas are grown.

Climate

The Pullman area is dry and clear for much of the year, with hot dry summers and cold wet winters. Based on records kept from 1940 to 2005 by the Western Regional Climate Center, Pullman's average annual rainfall is 21 inches while the average annual snowfall is 28 inches. The warmest month is August with 82 degrees the average maximum temperature, while January is the coldest month with 22.7 degrees the average minimum temperature.

Demographics

As of the 2000 census, there were 24,675 people, 8,828 households, and 3,601 families residing in the city The population was 24,675 at the 2000 census. This statistic does not include a college residence hall that was accidentally mis-allocated to the town of Endicott, across the county[1]. The population density was 1,058.6/km² (2,740.8/mi²).
The racial makeup of the city was:

★ 83.10% White

★ 8.48% Asian

★ 3.40% from two or more races

★ 2.40% African American

★ 1.58% from other races

★ 0.67% Native American

★ 0.38% Pacific Islander
Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.86% of the population.
The 2000 Census found 9,398 housing units at an average density of 403.2/km² (1,043.9/mi²). There were 8,828 households out of which:

★ 59.2% were non-families

★ 33.0% were married couples living together

★ 31.1% of all households were made up of individuals

★ 20.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them

★ 5.8% had a female householder with no husband present

★ 3.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older (included in the 31.1% of households made up of individuals)
The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.87.
The city's age distribution is dominated by the presence of WSU students:

★ 13.1% under the age of 18

★ 49.4% from 18 to 24

★ 22.8% from 25 to 44

★ 10.3% from 45 to 64

★ 4.5% who were 65 years of age or older.
The median age was 22 years, which is also typical of a university town. For every 100 females there are 104.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 104.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $20,652, and the median income for a family was $46,165. Males had a median income of $36,743 versus $29,192 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,448. About 15.3% of families and 37.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.0% of those under age 18 and 3.6% of those age 65 or over. However, traditional poverty measures can be misleading when applied to communities primarily populated by college students.

Transportation

Pullman is served by the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport located 2 miles east of Pullman and 4 miles west of Moscow, Idaho. Horizon Air offers four flights daily from Pullman-Moscow to Seattle and four flights daily from Seattle to Pullman-Moscow. The airport was designed by DOH Associates, Architects and Planners of Wenatchee.
Shuttle service to Spokane International Airport is available. Major bus routes, including Greyhound, pass through Pullman. Pullman is also served by Pullman Transit which provides service for many students of the university who do not live on campus and also provides service to the residents of Pullman. Students can get on the bus by showing their student ID card, as all students pay a fee for use of the bus system which is included in their fees when attending WSU.

External links

★ Pullman official website

★ Pullman community website

★ Pullman Complete City Guide

★ Pullman Chamber of Commerce

★ Pullman history

★ Pullman Industrial Park

★ Whitman County Genealogical Society

★ Washington State University

★ National Lentil Festival