The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1939-1949, 1944-04-27
Richland village Crows
Into Modern, Model City
Everything is
Planned Before
Building Begins
Attractive homes, at.
tractively arranged pre-
sage beautiful city

Lfactlvely arranged pre-
sage beautiful city
Just what the town of Richland
looks like, what it does and the
how and why are no doubt of
great interest to all the boys and
girls in the service, to many OF
the former residents of that 10
cality as well as to many Kenne-
wick residents. Information con-
corning the town and what it
looks like has been difficult to
write about, what with the CEN
sorship regulations, etc. How
ever, special reporter, for the
Spokane Review evidently found
the soft side of the censors and
he has written more about the
new little city than has before
appeared in print We are re-
printing, in its entirety, story
over his signature which appeared
in Mondays Review. The story
follows:
This little country town that
used to doze along the Kennewick-
Hartford highway is fast becoming
the beautiful model city that army
engineers predicted year ago.
The pattern now shows through
the clouds of dust raised by cranes,
scrapers and power shovels.
George Washington way has alb
|sorbed what used to be Main street.
Semi-rural subdivisions with
curved streets and handicapped
lawns or parkways exist where a
year, ago were barren sagebrush
hills. New residential streets are
being cut through apple orchards,
but the whole picture is planned
to save as much of the natural
beauty as possible.
Will Accommodate $4,000
Dispatches told year ago how
work on the new model town was
started, mile north and west of
the main corners, just west of the
old villages a-sseterss~
Now the new Richland COM
pletely surrounds and absorbs the
old, and the residents who moved
out last summer would have
hard time locating themselves un-
less they could spot the landmarks
that have been preserved These
include some of the cement-block
downtown stores and possibly so
of the outlying garden or orchard
| homes. All else is neW-from
brand-new postoffice that will be
dedicated this week to ia
room hotel shaped like a summer
resort inn, from a midtown cafe
terra that will feed a thousand
diners to hundreds of complete
modern homes and some 1900 tenn
! porary ''prefabs" that can be UNI
loaded from a flat car tonight and
occupied tomorrow Population
will be about $4,000.
Young City. Young People
The new Richland has several
feathers in its proudly strutted
tail-for if the old town resembled
an aging little hen, the new COM
munity maybe likened to bird
of paradise just emerging from a
dust bin.
It is of course the states new
est and fastest growing city. But
it has the youngest average age
Of any city in the northwest. New
Corners are mostly in their eos or
Cos, whether married or single,
and the transplanted families are
so large and numerous that schools
are swamped and the youngsters
60 to classes in shifts.
! Here there is literal truth in
the old Chicago dialogue between
the stranger who said, What's
that building?" and the resident
who answered.:
~ haven't learned it wasn't
there yesterday"
They build things just that fast.
Trenches are dug, pipes laid, the
surface restored and seeded to
grass between nights. A man
walks to his job past morning
| framework When he closes the
office and goes home the sides
are on, the windows in and the
paint beginning to dry.
| 1Ou go 10 DTGdkldSt uOWu d OdIS
board stairway leading to the side
hill dining room of the hotel
which has no name except ''Tran-
sient Quarters" When you climb
again to the lobby the floor cover
ing has been laid. Business has to
go on despite the turmoil. Those
who are already here get used to
it, and even tell more recent ar
rivals what a rough town Rich
land was way back in February.
The town does not have every.
thing. It lacks, for instance, a beer
parlor. But there are plenty at
Kennewick and Pasco. A depart
ment store covering half a city
block is under construction. A
picture theatre is already running,
d drug store is all ready to receive
its stock, which may be overnight
and a serve-self grocery has been
opened on the old hardware store
corner.
The old office building of the
irrigation district, where many
plans were made to keep the or
chardists in and the army out, has
been cut into apartments. An old
tWo-story cement block structure