Albion, Washington — Close to Pullman, Still Its Own Town

Albion sits in a narrow creek valley northeast of Pullman, tucked below the rolling wheat hills that dominate the surrounding Palouse. Farms and rail transportation gave the town its early economic role, concentrating homes and local businesses in a landscape of scattered agricultural households.

The railroad disappeared and Pullman became easier to reach for work, shopping and services. That could have reduced Albion to a neighborhood name. It did not. The town retained its municipal government, residential center and separate identity.

Albion now lives in a useful middle ground: close enough to benefit from a university city only a few miles away, but old and organized enough not to become merely one of its subdivisions.