Grandview, Washington — Irrigation Built the Farms; Families Built the City

Grandview sits in the lower Yakima Valley on land whose modern economy depends on moving water where rainfall alone would never put enough of it.

Early twentieth-century irrigation transformed dry ground into orchards, vineyards, hop yards and other productive farmland. Packing, processing and transportation followed.

Grandview incorporated in 1909 as a service center inside that agricultural system.

The population changed with the work. Latino families, many with roots in agricultural labor, became a major part of the community and eventually a large majority of its residents. Seasonal destinations became permanent homes; schools, neighborhoods and civic institutions grew around generations of families.

Agriculture still matters enormously, but it explains only the economic machinery. The more interesting story is how the people who worked that machinery made Grandview their own.