Kiona, Washington

Kiona is an unincorporated community in Benton County, Washington, United States. Kiona is a term belonging to North American indigenous people meaning "brown hills." Kiona and Benton City share a school district (commonly called "Ki-Be").

Kiona
Unincorporated community
Kiona, Washington looking east-north-east toward Red Mountain in the distance.
Kiona
Coordinates: 46°14′58″N 119°28′39″W
Country	United States
State	Washington
County	Benton
Elevation	518 ft (158 m)
Time zone	UTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP codes	99320
Area code	509

History

In 1888, the Northern Pacific Railroad built a new station in the western part of Benton County at present-day Kiona. This allowed farmers to easily bring their produce to market (the main crops were corn, wheat, alfalfa, potatoes, and fruit, especially apples), which encouraged further settlement in the area.

Due to the sparse precipitation in the area, most agriculture at the time was dryland farming. Irrigation first came to the county in the 1890s and brought many changes. In the 1890s the Yakima Irrigation and Improvement Company built a canal bringing water from the Yakima River to Kiona.

The Oregon-Washington Railroad and Navigation Company built a new railroad across the Yakima River from Kiona in 1907. The new community of Benton City sprang up around it. Beginning in 1917, the Yellowstone Trail, a national highway from Massachusetts to Seattle, was routed through Kiona.

Kiona has never been officially incorporated as a city.

In 2002, the Benton City – Kiona Bridge over the Yakima River at Benton City was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

External links

• Kiona-Benton City Heritage. Digitized historic resources from the Benton City branch of Mid-Columbia Libraries and the Kiona-Benton Historical Society.