Featured Businesses
Othello, WA
Othello is a city in Adams County, Washington, United States. The population was 8,549 at the 2020 census, a 16 percent increase from 2010. It is located in the heart of the Columbia Basin Project, approximately 100 miles southwest of Spokane.
The first white settlers in the area were two brothers, Ben and Sam Hutchinson, who built a cabin along the Crab Creek in 1884. An influx of homesteaders began after the start of the 20th century, and a post office was established in 1904. The Chicago, Milwaukee, & St. Paul Railroad ran a track through Adams County in 1907. The railroad officially platted the town as a stop, with water to feed the boilers of steam trains. Businesses and settlers continued to follow, and the town was incorporated on May 31, 1910. From 1951 to 1973, the 637th Radar Squadron operated the Othello Radar Station near the town. Frozen food packaging came to town in the early 1960s, and has since become the main industry. Othello is quite family-friendly for a population of 13,000, with four elementary schools and two major parks (plus two more minor ones).
Basalt formations that are unique to the area around Othello are found in the Columbia Basin Wildlife Refuge and the Potholes region. The Potholes are a series of small lakes found in craters, which were formed during the Ice Age, surrounded by basalt formations. These small lakes are home to a variety of waterfowl. Basalt rocks are black volcanic rock, columnar in shape and varying in size. They appear like stark sentinels rising from the earth and give an elegant appearance to the surrounding dry land. Two hundred years ago Lewis and Clark first saw the basalt cliffs cut by the Snake and Columbia Rivers. One hundred years ago Othello was located on top of the world's largest lava flow and on the edge of what was once a flood lake blocked by the Saddle Mountains and forced to flow west through the Crab Creek Coulee and south through Scootney Springs Coulee leaving wind blown top soil east of Othello, mostly unscarred from the torrential flooding. West of Othello is Drumheller Channels National Natural Landmark consisting of 44,906 acres, and preserving physical evidence of this geological history.
Since 1998, Othello has also been home to the Sandhill Crane Festival, celebrating the annual arrival of sandhill cranes to the nearby Columbia National Wildlife Refuge.
