Gibbon, Washington — Railroad Junction Between Bigger Places

Gibbon began as Bender, a Northern Pacific junction established in 1884 between Prosser and Benton City.

In 1896, the railroad renamed the place for U.S. Army General John Gibbon.

The location mattered more than either name. Tracks and switching functions gave the settlement a practical role in the Yakima Valley transportation network, while irrigation expanded orchards, vineyards and other agriculture around it.

Highways later reduced the railroad's monopoly on movement, and Gibbon never developed into a substantial town.

It remained a narrow strip of settlement beside the tracks between larger communities.

Some places grow because people want to arrive there. Gibbon existed because trains needed a place to connect on the way somewhere else.