Kiona Benton City Historical Society

04/06/2026

A centennial for Pasco Airport.
https://www.facebook.com/TCAirportPSC

The Tri-Cities Airport (FAA designation of PSC) provides regional, commercial air service to southeas

03/11/2026

We have an issue! An issue that matches this week's date that is. 77 years ago today, the Billboard reports some stuff on the lighter side of things such as second graders visiting the post office. We also have an upgrade happening on the community center. When gifted by Annie Prowell to the community in 1923, the 28-year-old building underwent a renovation adding meeting rooms, a dance floor and kitchen upgrades. It had been 26 years and was now getting similar rehabilitation (see for yourself). And then there's the front page. Read it to believe it, it's a bit macabre.

03/09/2026

https://video.idahoptv.org/video/idahos-sacred-places-owzr4b/

In this episode we explore Idaho’s deep faith through three houses of worship.

03/06/2026

Some 92 years ago this first week of March. Here is a sampling from the Benton City Booster's 1934 newsletters/newspaper. The KBCHS will make all efforts to share from the Billboard (and Booster) collection as timely as possible.

The Benton City Billboard was published on Thursdays. The Billboard ran for about 2.5 years from the month of December 1948 until May of 1951. Who exactly the publisher/editors were is not obvious. Recent conversations identify Frank Haun as involved but KBCHS does not know who wrote the "Gal About Town" column. We know Oscar Hanson fully supported the Billboard and sharing from his Benton City Booster publication.

The "15 -Years-Ago-This-Week column ran for most of the 1949 issues of the publication. Snips shared on this page will be from hardcopies of the Billboard that are not available digitally except here.

In 2025, KBCHS facilitated having the 17 or so issues (from the Kaye Kendall Davis collection) in our possession added to the Washington Digital Newspaper site. At that time, these issues had been safely stored at the old Benton City hall but not retrievable until recently.

Washington State budget and time constraints prohibit having these additional issues microfilmed and digitized to make them available on the state's newspaper platform along with the other issues. The few issues digitized are accessible at the link below.
https://washingtondigitalnewspapers.org/?a=cl&cl=CL1&sp=BENBCB&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------

03/02/2026

Celebrating some ordinary and not so ordinary Kiona-Benton women this March. Do you have someone you'd like to share? Message KBCHS.

One hundred and 25 years ago, Elizabeth Brant moved to Benton City (it was Kiona at the time). She was born February 28, 1843, in Fulton County, Pennsylvania. Her parents were immigrants from Bavaria, Germany. As a young woman, she married John Brant of the same area. In February of 1875, John moved to Nebraska claiming a 160-acre homestead. Elizabeth did not leave for Nebraska until shortly after the birth of her daughter Dora on February 28th that same year.

The Brants proved up on the homestead in 1882 when Elizabeth was 39. They sold that homestead and moved a little south to Plumb Creek (Lexington) Nebraska where they had a farm and gristmill. John and Elizabeth had a parting of the ways sometime before 1891. She files as a widow (code word for divorce although no evidence of a formal divorce has been found) on her own homestead near Callaway, Nebraska and proves up in 1898 when she was 55. Several years later she sold that homestead and moved to Kiona.

Elizabeth was always a woman who looked out for herself, keeping her own bank accounts and owning a number of properties in her own name from 1882 on. Elizabeth bought a farm from Anna Trout in 1901 (on Kendall RD) and would live there for the remainder of her life, dying of a stroke in June of 1917 and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery. Descendants still live in the house at the farm.

02/24/2026

Perusing old Benton City newspapers. Attached is an assorted selection from the Benton City Boosters, February 1934. That's like 92 years ago. We can go back further but for now, here's the "old" news.

02/17/2026

https://midcolumbialibraries.org/event/learn-local-silent-legacy-unsung-contributions-cs-prowell-yakima-valley

Join us for a historical presentation by Diane Leist, President of the Kiona-Benton City Historical Society. Diane will explore the little-known life of Courtland S. Prowell, with a primary focus on his 20-year career with the Northern Pacific Railroad (NPR) during the construction of the Yakima Roa...

02/14/2026

Last Friday marked 140 years since 34-year-old Annie Prowell made an application of entry for a stretch of land on the east side of the Yakima River at what is now Benton City. The property was 115.4 acres. Under the Desert Land Act rules, Anna made a cash entry paying 25 cents an acre and within three years paid an additional price of one dollar per acre.
Her total price for the land was 144.25. By the time of final proof, there would of course have been other cash outlays such as filing costs with the land office and paying for the required 6-week public notice in a local paper (Yakima Republic). The biggest expense would be the construction of a waterwheel to irrigate the land and payment for laborers to build the waterwheel and to plow, sow and maintain the crops.
Final proof was in 1891 in combination with her husband’s lots which lay just south of her property. Way to go Annie! To learn more about Annie and her husband Courtland Prowell, you're invited to attend next Saturday's lecture at the Benton City Branch of the Mid-Columbia Library on February 21st.

02/14/2026

Just in case anyone is looking for their next position.

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01/26/2026

Decades ago I bought and read We Sagebrush Folks so I was delighted to come across this documentary. Hope you enjoy it. We may not be Idaho but we sure have/had a lot of sagebrush and farming was possible only when irrigation was employed.

Explore the life, work and legacy of Idaho writer Annie Pike Greenwood.

01/24/2026

Regional documentary history loving folks might enjoy.

The stories and legacy of Idaho’s Chinese immigrants.

09/03/2025

Have an historic barn? Apply for grants for repairs and maintenance. Have an old barn and would like to get it listed on the Washington Heritage Barn Registry? Go through the process so your barn is eligible for the grant during the next round.

Heritage Barn Grants Available WA State DAHP sent this bulletin at 09/02/2025 03:46 PM PDT View as a webpage / Share 09/02/2025 The Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP) is pleased to announce a new round of funding is available for owners of historic barns in W...