Cheney, Washington
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cheney (pronounced ['tʃi:ni]) is a city in Spokane County, Washington, United States. The population was 8,832 at the 2000 census, which has now increased and has a population of 10,130 as of 2006 [1]. Eastern Washington University is located in Cheney. The Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League have held the majority of their summer training camps at EWU, from 1976-1985, and again from 1997 through the 2006 training camp.
[edit] History
Named for Boston railroad tycoon Benjamin Pierce Cheney, the town was officially incorporated on November 28, 1883.
The City of Cheney is located in Spokane County and is home to 10,130 residents according to the 2006 Washington Office of Financial Management population estimate. Cheney is proud of its small town nature, which is enhanced by the diverse influence of Eastern Washington University, a public regional university with over 10,000 full time students.
Cheney developed into the city known today because of its strong ties to education, rail, and agriculture.This provided a strong economic base for the community and was the result of a much larger event that took place in the United States. In 1858, the last Indian uprising occurred in Eastern Washington. Because isolated Eastern Washington was an area of this Indian unrest during the early part of the territorial period, it was not until the late 1860's and early 1870's that settlers made homes in the area. In the latter part of that decade, settlers attracted by plentiful water and timber and the promise of a railway line made their homes near a group of springs bubbling through a willow copse from the bank where the Burlington Northern Depot now stands.
The name of the little community, originally Section Thirteen, became Willow Springs, then became Depot Springs, because of its ties to the railroad, then Billings, in honor of a president of the Northern Pacific Company, and finally Cheney, Washington in honor of Benjamin P. Cheney, a Director of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
Benjamin was the eldest son of a blacksmith who was born in 1815 at Hillboro, New Hampshire. The only time Cheney actually visited the town of Cheney was on September 18, 1883 following the "Last Spike Ceremony" which was the joining of the eastern and western divisions of the railroad. Mr. Cheney donated $10,000 to establish the Benjamin P. Cheney Academy in the town. The railroad donated eight acres of land so that the educational facility could be built. In 1880 the railroad was graded through the town, and in 1883 the town was incorporated with the streets laid out in the shape of a triangle with the base parallel to the tracks. The railroad tracks were not in a true east-west line, however, so the original town is askew with the map; the newer part of Cheney was built more to the compass.
After a stormy series of boundary changes caused by legislative acts, Spokane County was created with a permanent County seat still to be selected. Contenders for the honor were Cheney and Spokane Falls (now Spokane). Cheney received a majority of the votes, but because of alleged irregularities at the polls the election was won by Spokane Falls. When this was taken to court, a circuit court judge agreed to a ballot recount. Such recount failed to materialize, however, and the citizens of Cheney took matters into their own hands.
On a night when most of the residents of Spokane Falls were at a gala wedding celebration, a delegation of armed "Cheneyites" invaded the Auditor's office, took possession of the books, did their own ballot recount which showed Cheney the victor, and made off into the darkness with the records. The "Grand Steal" was not contested and was confirmed by a court decision in 1881.
Cheney remained the county seat until 1886 when the faster growing Spokane Falls again brought the issue to a vote and regained the seat. From this point on, the history of Cheney revolves around the growth of the State Normal School, later Eastern Washington College of Education, later Eastern Washington State College and finally Eastern Washington University. The fierce determination of Cheney to build and promote its college was largely to regain its lost prestige over the county seat.
When Washington became a state in 1889, Cheney was able to obtain legislation establishing one of the state normal schools, mandatory under the Enabling Act, in Cheney. Its most convincing argument was that it already had the physical beginnings of a normal school in the Benjamin P. Cheney Academy.
Disagreement between legislators and governors resulted in three appropriation vetoes for the normal school in the next 25 years, but in each case, the citizens of Cheney somehow raised the funds to keep the college going until the next legislative session. The growth of the Cheney Normal School and the transformation of the frontier land into a thriving community were the basis for the changing attitudes in this area. The innovators who created the small community atmosphere were the women of the frontier. All of the energies that were once focused into making the west a home for their families were transformed into creating a vision of preferred lifestyle choices for the youth.
[edit] Growth
With Cheney located just 15 miles southwest from Spokane, Washington the city has seen some significant growth since the mid and late 1990's and continuing today as the Spokane area continues its rapid growth. Much of the growth and development has taken place on the north part of the city, were the highway enters Cheney that connects the city with Interstate 90 and Spokane. Over the years this area has seen the development several new businesses and restaurants along with a new shopping center with a Safeway supermarket, Blockbuster Video, Pizza Hut, Starbucks coffee, and a credit union. Also recently opening was a new hotel, a Holiday Inn Express.
The city also hopes to help attract more businesses and high tech business by installing a fiber optic network that will eventually connect to all businesses in the city as well as developing a technology business park[2]. The city has also recently started renovating it's historic downtown while connecting the downtown to the university with a pedestrian only walkway the few blocks the separates the two [3].
Eastern Washington University is the fastest growing university in the state of Washington and has seen several new buildings built or renovated on campus, upgrades and beautification of the campus, a new dorm built, and a renovation of the football stadium. With all this growth Cheney has seen the development of many new apartments for students and subdivisions and new homes built as the city continues to grow along with the Spokane area.
[edit] Geography
Cheney is located at (47.488634, -117.578581)GR1, at an elevation of 2400 ft, or 732m.
Cheney is at the highest point on the railroads between Spokane and Portland, and sits atop the route of gentlest gradient from the Spokane Valley to the Columbia Plateau, which was the reason for much of its early growth and railroad activity. The town is built on rolling palouse hills overlooking channeled scablands carved out by the pre-historic Spokane Floods to the South and East. These scablands now host "pothole" lakes and wetlands, and are home to Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.6 km² (4.1 mi²). 10.6 km² (4.1 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it (0.73%) is water.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 8,832 people, 3,108 households, and 1,529 families residing in the city. The population density was 833.8/km² (2,161.0/mi²). There were 3,293 housing units at an average density of 310.9/km² (805.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 85.28% White, 2.11% African American, 1.32% Native American, 6.34% Asian, 0.35% Pacific Islander, 1.71% from other races, and 2.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.35% of the population.
There were 3,108 households out of which 25.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.6% were married couples living together, 11.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 50.8% were non-families. 30.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.97.
In the city the population was spread out with 18.2% under the age of 18, 41.0% from 18 to 24, 21.6% from 25 to 44, 12.9% from 45 to 64, and 6.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 23 years. For every 100 females there were 88.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $22,593, and the median income for a family was $37,935. Males had a median income of $27,745 versus $23,375 for females. The per capita income for the city was $12,566. About 20.1% of families and 30.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.4% of those under age 18 and 6.7% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Schools
The primary and secondary public schools in the City of Cheney arun by Cheney School District Number 360. In the City of Cheney there are the following public schools:
- Betz Elementary - Serves 397 students in grades kindergarten through 5
- Robert Reid Laboratory School - Serves 150 students in grades preschool through 5
- Salnave Elementary School - Serves 300 students grades kindergarten through 5
- Cheney Middle School - Serves 650 student in grades 6 through 8
- Cheney High School - Serves approximately 700 students grades 9 through 12
- Three Springs High School - Serves students in grades 9 through 12
[edit] Public Parks
- City Park - Picnic and Barbecue Facilities, Playground Equipment and Restrooms
- Centennial Park - 2 Soccer Feilds, Picnic and Barbecue Facilities, along with a Horse Shoe Pit.
- Hagelin Park - Picnic and Barbecue Facilities, Playground Equipment, Restrooms, Outdoor Swimming Pool, Tennis Courts, Volleyball Courts and Soccer Fields.
- Hibbard Park - Basketball Court and Playground Equipment
- Moos Feild - 2 Baseball Feilds, a Soccer Field and Restroom Facilities
- Salnave Park - 2 Soccer Feilds, 2 Softball Feilds and Baseball feild, play ground equipment, basketball court, tennis courts, restrooms and picnic and babecue facilities.
- Sutton Park - PLayground equipment, restrooms and a gazebo.
[edit] Eastern Washington University
Founded in 1882, as the Benjamin P. Cheney Academy, it opened its doors to more than 200 enrolling students. A generous contribution of $10,000 from Benjamin P. Cheney, a wealthy transportation industrialist, had at last fulfilled the dreams of Cheney citizens who had long desired an institute for higher learning in their community.
The academy became the Washington State Normal School at Cheney in 1889, the same year in which Washington was given its statehood. The school was proudly designated as an institution "for the purpose of instruction of persons, both male and female, in the art of teaching the various branches that pertain to a good common school." By the time it became Eastern Washington College of Education in 1937, Eastern was already a fully accredited four-year, degree-granting institution, offering majors in numerous subjects. The campus grew rapidly in size and program offerings in the decades following World War II. In 1961, the name was again changed, this time to Eastern Washington State College. It was increasingly evident that the region needed professionals in many fields; in response, Eastern added a wide range of undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Finally, in 1977, the state Legislature changed the school's name to Eastern Washington University.
Eastern Washington University is now a regional, comprehensive public university, with programs also offered in Bellevue, Everett, Kent, Seattle, Shoreline, Spokane, Tacoma, Vancouver, and Yakima. Eastern has grown and developed into a driving force for the culture, economy and vitality of the Inland Northwest region. The University’s beautiful campus, NCAA Division I athletics and opportunities for hands-on, real-world learning provide a classic, yet unique college experience. A focus on personal attention, faculty excellence and community collaboration allows Eastern to accomplish its mission for preparing well-rounded students ready to hit the ground running in their chosen career fields. Eastern is now the Washington's fastest growing public institution, yet maintains a 24:1 student-faculty ratio. This momentum can also be seen through structural changes around campus, including renovating Woodward Stadium, the Washington State Digital Archives building, the new Washington State Patrol Regional Crime Laboratory and new School of Computing and Engineering Sciences.
Eastern is proud to offer the state’s best economic value in public education. This has made Eastern an institution of opportunity for many college students seeking an education that will provide them the skills and practical training critical to succeed in today's changing work environment. Eastern also provides another kind of opportunity — to study one-of-a-kind, in-demand disciplines such as biotechnology, cyber security, forensic science, entrepreneurship, children’s studies, dental hygiene and urban planning. In addition, Eastern is the only regional university in the state to offer a doctorate in physical therapy.
[edit] Fairchild Air Force Base
Fairchild Air Force Base, located approximately 7 miles north of Cheney and established in 1942, has been a key part of our nation’s defense strategy and its personnel are a substial portion of the Cheney community. Originally established as a World War II repair depot, it has transitioned over the years to a Strategic Air Command bomber wing during the Cold War, to Air Mobility Command air refueling wing during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. Today, Fairchild’s aircraft and personnel make up the backbone of the Air Force’s airborne refueling tanker fleet on the west coast. Fairchild’s location north of Cheney and 12 miles west of Spokane, resulted from a competition with the cities of Seattle and Everett in western Washington. The War Department chose Spokane for several reasons: better weather conditions, the location 300 miles from the coast, and the Cascade Range providing a natural barrier against possible Japanese attack.
Fairchild Air Force Base is also the United States Air Force's primary training facility for Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape Techniques (SERE). SERE is a U.S. military training program developed at the end of the Korean War to provide service members with training in the Code of Conduct, survival skills, evading capture, and dealing with being taken prisoner. It was created by the U.S. Air Force but was expanded to the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy after the Vietnam War. The SERE school at Fairchild AFB is intended to train aircrews, special forces, and other service members who operate in dangerous areas and are thus more likely to be captured.
[edit] Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge
The Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1937 by an Executive Order of President F.D. Roosevelt is located six miles south of Cheney, Washington on the eastern edge of the Columbia Basin, in Spokane county in northeastern Washington. The Refuge is situated within the "Channeled Scablands", an area formed by glacial floods at the end of the last ice age. It was established to provide productive breeding and nesting grounds for migratory birds and other wildlife, and it encompasses approximately 16,000 acres (65 km²) of the Channeled Scablands. The ecosystem that predominates the Refuge is unique within the National Wildlife Refuge System and has characteristics that distinguish it from natural reserves worldwide. The powerful forces of volcanism, glaciation and the largest flood in geological history have combined to forge a distinct environment. The combination of basalt outcrops, channeled canyons and ponderosa pine forests infused in a diverse landscape of over 130 marshes, wetlands and lakes, create an environment of aesthetic beauty as well as high quality wildlife habitat. Refuge ecosystems represent an ecological transition between the dry, sagebrush dotted grasslands of the Columbia Basin and the timbered Selkirk and Bitteroot Mountain Ranges that rise up to the east. The 3,036 acres (12 km²) of wetlands on Turnbull NWR represent some of the last quality breeding habitat available in eastern Washington for waterfowl, which have experienced tremendous population declines across North America due to loss and degradation of breeding, migration and wintering habitat.
[edit] Eastern Regional Branch of the Washington State Archives
Cheney is also home to the Eastern Regional Branch of the Washington State Archives; which provides archival and records management services to local government agencies throughout Adams, Asotin, Columbia, Ferry, Garfield, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Stevens, Walla Walla, and Whitman counties in the State of Washington. Eastern Region's Collections include: Local government records include those from county offices such as the Auditor, the Clerk, the Treasurer, the Board of Commissioners, and from municipalities, school districts, and other service districts. Only a small percentage of the records created by these offices are transferred to the State Archives as archival records. They are selected as archival for their value as legal and historical evidence of policy development, implementation, and effect. The transfer of records to the State Archives is an ongoing process. Some historical records remain with their originating office pending future transfer to the Archives. Collections span the years from the territorial period to the present and include school census records, tax assessment rolls, court dockets and case files, photographs, maps, plats, and engineering drawings. The Archives building is located on the campus of Eastern Washington University.
[edit] Famous Residents
- Steve Emtman is a former defensive end/defensive tackle for the National Football League's Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins and Chicago Bears. He was born in Spokane, Washington, grew up in Cheney, Washington and graduated from Cheney High School in 1988. Emtman was the first overall pick in the 1992 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts. He was a star and considered the best overall player on a Washington Huskies team that split the national championship with Miami in 1991, winning the Outland & Lombardi Award as well as being named Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year. Steve's NFL career was marred by injuries.He was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006. Along with Bruce Smith, Tim Brown, Emmitt Smith and John Madden, Steve Emtman had a cameo appearance as himself in the 1994 feature film Little Giants. Steve will be inducted in the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Hall of Fame in April 2007, for his athletic accomplishments.
- Launi Meili represented the United States at the 1992 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal in women's three-position smallbore rifle shooting at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.
- Lt. Col. Michael P. Anderson died as member of the crew of Space Shuttle Columbia during its disastrous re-enter in February 2003 (See Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster).
[edit] Places Listed on the National Register of Historical Places
-
- Cheney Interurban Depot added in 1979, also known as Cheney Care Center located at 505 2nd St., Cheney, Washington
- Cheney Odd Fellows Hall added 1990, located at 321 First Street
- City of Cheney Historic District added 2001
- Dybdall Gristmill added in 1976, also known as Chapman Lake Mill located 10 mi. S of Cheney at Chapman Lake
- Italian Rock Ovens added 1976 located south of Cheney
- Northern Pacific Railway Depot added 1990 Also known as Burlington Northern Depot, located at 506 Front Street
- Sutton Barn added 1975 also known as Red Barn
- Turnbull Pines Rock Shelter added 1975, Period of Significance: 1499-1000 AD, 1800-1824, 1825-1849, 1850-1874, 1875-1899
- Washington State Normal School at Cheney Historic District added 1992, also known as Eastern Washington University Historic District
[edit] External links
- Official website of the City of Cheney
- Official website of Cheney School District Number 360
- Official website of Eastern Washington University
- Official website of the Cheney Rodeo (held the second weekend of July every year)
- Official website of the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge
- Official website of Fairchild Air Force Base
- Official website of Eastern Regional Branch of the Washington State Archives
- Power Point Presentation from the Washington State Patrol that shows pictures of its crime lab in the City of Cheney
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
