Walla Walla Washington WA Warrant Search

Walla Walla, Washington Walla Walla is the largest city in and the county seat of Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. The population was 29,686 at the 2000 census and 31,350 from the 2008 estimate of the Washington State Office of Financial Management. Walla Walla is in the southeastern region of Washington, approximately four hours by car from Seattle, Washington and thirteen miles from the Oregon border.Whitman College, Walla Walla Community College, and the Washington State Penitentiary are located in Walla Walla. Walla Walla University is located in nearby College Place, Washington. In addition, Baker Boyer Bank, the oldest bank in the state of Washington, was founded in Walla Walla in 1869.Walla Walla is famous for its sweet onions. Many wineries are located in the area and it is a popular vacation spot for wine enthusiasts. History On September 1, 1836, Marcus Whitman arrived with his wife Narcissa Whitman. Here they established the Whitman Mission in an unsuccessful attempt to convert the local Walla Walla tribe to Christianity. Following a disease epidemic, both were killed by the Cayuse who believed that the missionaries were poisoning the native peoples. Whitman College was established in their honor.The original Northwest Company and later Hudson's Bay Company Fort Nez Percés fur trading outpost, became a major stopping point for migrants moving west to Oregon Country. The fort has been restored with many of the original buildings preserved . The current Fort Walla Walla contains these buildings, albeit in a different location from the original, as well as a museum about the early settlers' lives.The Walla Walla River, where it adjoins the Columbia River, was the starting point for the Mullan Road, constructed between 1859 and 1860 by US Army Lieut. John Mullan, connecting the head of navigation on the Columbia at Walla Walla (i.e., the west coast of the US) with the head of navigation on the Missouri-Mississippi (that is, the east and gulf coasts of the US) at Fort Benton, Montana.Walla Walla was officially incorporated on January 11, 1862. As a result of a gold rush in Idaho, during this decade the city became the largest community in the territory of Washington, at one point slated to be the new state's capital. The former Governor's mansion still stands in the southern part of the city. Following this period of rapid growth, agriculture became the city's primary industry. Geography and climate Walla Walla is located at 46°3′54″N 118°19′49″W / 46.065°N 118.33028°W / 46.065; -118.33028 (46.065094w, -118.330167e).According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.8 square miles (28.0 km²), of which, 10.8 square miles (28.0 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.18%) is water. Demographics As of the census of 2000, there are 29,686 people, 10,596 households, and 6,527 families residing in the city. The population density is 2,744.9 people per square mile (1,059.3/km²). According to the census there are 11,400 housing units at an average density of 1,054.1 per square mile (406.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city is 83.79% White, 2.58% African American, 1.05% Native American, 1.24% Asian, 0.23% Pacific Islander, 8.26% from other races, and 2.85% from two or more races. 17.42% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.Of the 10,596 counted households, 30.6% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.4% are married couples living together, 11.0% have a female householder with no husband present, and 38.4% are considered non-families by the U.S. government. 31.9% of all households are made up of individuals and 15.1% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.44 and the average family size is 3.08.In the city the population is spread out with 21.8% under the age of 18, 14.2% from 18 to 24, 26.5% from 25 to 44, 17.5% from 45 to 64, and 20.1% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 34 years. For every 100 women there are 108.4 men. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 109.1 males. About 89% of the population is Christian.The median income for a household in the city is $31,855, and the median income for a family is $40,856. Men have a median income of $31,753 versus $23,889 for women. The per capita income for the city is $15,792. 18.0% of the population and 13.1% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 22.8% of those under the age of 18 and 10.5% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line. Agriculture Though wheat is still a big crop, vineyards and wineries have become economically important over the last two decades. In summer 2006, there were over 100 wineries in the greater Walla Walla area. Following the wine boom, the town has developed several top-tier restaurants and hotels. The Marcus Whitman hotel, one of Washington's finest early 1900s hotels, was recently renovated with its original fixtures and furnitures. It is the tallest building in the city, reaching thirteen stories.The Walla Walla Sweet Onion is another crop with a rich tradition. Over a century ago on the Island of Corsica, off the west coast of Italy, a French soldier named Peter Pieri found an Italian sweet onion seed and brought it to the Walla Walla Valley. Impressed by the new onion's winter hardiness, Pieri, and the Italian immigrant farmers who comprised much of Walla Walla's gardening industry, harvested the seed. The sweet onion developed over several generations through the process of carefully hand selecting onions from each year's crop, ensuring exceptional sweetness, jumbo size and round shape. The Walla Walla Sweet Onion is also designated under federal law as a protected agricultural crop. In 2007, the Walla Walla Sweet Onion became Washington's official state vegetable.Walla Walla Sweet Onions get their sweetness from low sulfur content, which is half that of an ordinary yellow onion. Walla Walla Sweets are 90 percent water. That, combined with Walla Walla’s mild climate and rich soil, gives the onion its sweetness. The Walla Walla Sweet Onion Festival is held annually in July.From asparagus and corn to cherries and strawberries, Walla Walla growers produce produce that is available to visitors at the farmers' market from May until October; located on the corner of 4th and Main. A selection of bakery treats, flowers and plants, creative arts, and craft items are also on sale at the farmers' market open 9:00am to 1:00pm both Saturday and Sunday. Wine industry Walla Walla has experienced an explosion in its wine industry over the last ten years. Producing some of the finest American wines, Walla Walla is quickly becoming a destination for wine connoisseurs the world over. Several of the wineries have received top scores from wine publications such as Wine Spectator, The Wine Advocate and Wine and Spirits. L'Ecole 41, Woodward Canyon and Leonetti Cellar were the pioneers starting in the 1970s and 1980s. They have been joined by many noteworthy producers like Walla Walla Village Winery, Cayuse Vineyards, Spring Valley Vineyards, Waterbrook Winery, Reininger Winery, Forgeron Cellars, Tamarack Cellars, Seven Hills Winery, Pepper Bridge Winery, Amavi Cellars, and Walla Walla Vintners as well as dozens of smaller wineries. Although most of the early recognition went to the wines made from Merlot and Cabernet, Syrah is fast becoming a star varietal in this appellation. Today there are over 100 wineries in the Walla Walla Valley and a host of shops catering to the wine industry.Walla Walla Community College capitalizes on the opportunity to market the wine industry. The school offers an associate's degree in winemaking through its 4-year-old Institute of Enology and Viticulture, which operates its own commercial winery.One challenge to growing grapes in Walla Walla Valley is the risk of a killing freeze during the winter. They average one every six or seven years and the last one, in 2004, destroyed about 75% of the wine grape crop in the valley.The wineries generate over $100 million (US) to the valley annually. Corrections industry The largest prison in Washington is the Washington State Penitentiary (WSP) located in Walla Walla, at 1313 North 13th. Originally opened in 1887, it now houses about 2000 offenders. In addition, there are about 1000 staff members. In 2005, the financial benefit to the local economy was estimated to be about $55 million through salaries, medical services, utilities, and local purchases. Washington is a death penalty state, and occasional executions take place at the state pen, though the last execution took place on September 10, 2010. Washington is also one of two states to still allow hanging as a choice when sentenced to death (the other being Delaware), there has not been a hanging since May 1994 (the default method of execution was changed to lethal injection in 1996). The penitentiary is undergoing an extensive expansion project that will increase the prison population to 2,500 violent offenders and double the staff size. Transportation Transportation to Walla Walla includes service by air through Walla Walla Regional Airport and highway access primarily from U.S. Route 12. Washington State Department of Transportation is now engaged in a long-term process of widening this road into a four-lane divided highway between Pasco and Walla Walla. The city is also served by Valley Transit and the Grape Line service to Pasco. Sports Walla Walla is home of the Walla Walla Sweets, a summer collegiate baseball team that plays in the West Coast League. The league comprises college players and prospects working towards a professional baseball career. Teams are located in British Columbia, Oregon and Washington. Home games are played at Borleske Stadium.There also is a women's flat track rollerderby league called the Walla Walla Sweets Rollergirls, their practices and games are played at the Walla Walla YMCA. Trivia In 1972, Walla Walla established a sister city relationship with Sasayama, Japan.The trading card game Magic: The Gathering was created at Whitman College during the 1993 school year. Terminology coined in Walla Walla Proud residents of the town often brag about it as 'the town so nice they named it twice.' Walla Walla is a Native American name that means 'Place of Many Waters.' The original name of the town was Steptoeville named after Colonel Edward Steptoe. Famous Walla Walla residents The famous Lebanese poet, writer, and philosopher Mikha'il Na'ima, author of 'The Book of Mirdad,' began his writing career in Walla Walla in 1919.American scholar of Islam and author - voted one of the West's most influential Muslim scholars by The Guardian - Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, was born in Walla Walla.Former AWA and UWF professional wrestler Colonel DeBeers resided in Walla Walla for a time, where he operated Divine Felines Kitten Farm. The business raised three prize winning cats.[citation needed]NFL Quarterback Drew Bledsoe lived in Walla Walla while he was in high school before entering Washington State University in 1990. He was the first pick in the NFL draft in 1993, going to the New England Patriots, where he played until 2001. He later played for the Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys before retiring in 2007.The actor Adam West, TV's Batman, grew up in Walla Walla. Then known as Bill Anderson, he attended Walla Walla High School during his freshman and sophomore years before moving with his family to Seattle. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and a minor in Psychology from Whitman College[2] in Walla Walla.United States Army general and World War II hero Jonathan Wainwright was born in Walla Walla.Actor Connor Trinneer, from Star Trek: Enterprise, was born in Walla Walla.NFL punter T. J. Conley was born and raised in Walla Walla. He was the starting punter for the University of Idaho Vandals and played for the New York Jets in the preseason in 2009.[citation needed]Ryan Crocker, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq (2007–2009), and Pakistan (2004–2007), and who also served as Ambassador to Syria, Kuwait, and Lebanon, graduated from Whitman College in 1971.NFL wide receiver Charly Martin of the Carolina Panthers was born in Walla Walla in 1984.William O. Douglas attended Whitman College in Walla Walla, graduating in 1920. He went on to become the longest-serving justice in the history of the United States Supreme Court.The Brode triplets, Wallace, Robert, and Malcolm, all of whom became distinguished scientists, were born in Walla Walla in 1900. All three earned their bachelor's degrees at Whitman College, where their father Howard Brode was a professor of biology. Wallace Brode received his PhD in chemistry from the University of Illinois in 1925 and studied in Leipzig under a Guggenheim fellowship in 1926-1928. He taught chemistry at Ohio State University for 10 years and served as associate director of the National Bureau of Standards (now National Institute of Standards and Technology) from 1947-1958. He also served as the science advisor to the US State Department. He was active in the American Chemical Society and the Optical Society of America, serving as president of both. Wallace Brode died in 1979. Robert Brode received his PhD in physics from Caltech in 1924. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and taught in the Physics Department at the University of California at Berkeley from 1927 to 1967. He headed the group at Los Alamos that developed the fuses for the first atomic bombs and later served as a government advisor. He died in 1986. Malcolm Brode studied biology at Whitman and later taught at Berkeley, but died relatively young. Uses in popular culture Among references in popular culture, Walla Walla is mentioned in many different Warner Bros. cartoons. The city is said to be the location for the headquarters of the fictional Little Giant Vacuum Cleaner Company in the 1953 animated short film A Mouse Divided.The name appears in Walt Kelly's fractured yuletide carol, 'Deck Us All With Boston Charlie' in the comic strip Pogo: 'Deck us all with Boston Charlie, Walla Walla, Wash., an' Kalamazoo! ...'When asked the whereabouts of Roger, in the 1988 film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Detective Eddie Valient replies, 'Walla Walla?'American punk rock band The Offspring also wrote a song called Walla Walla about the nearby state penitentiary in Americana, their fifth album.In The Simpsons episode Homie the Clown Krusty the Clown opens up a clown college and in his class gives his students some examples of funny place names including 'Walla Walla, Keokuk, Cucamonga, Seattle'.In 1952 Republic Pictures released a Judy Canova movie called 'The WAC From Walla Walla,' but the title was its only reference to Walla Walla.In the 1937 Three Stooges short 'Cash and Carry' the stooges are working with what they think is a treasure map. It reveals the treasure is in Walla Walla, which they mistake for a double reference to a 'wall.'In the 1949 musical film A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Hank Martin (Bing Crosby) begins a long incantation starting with 'Walla Walla, Washington ...' (This text does not appear in the 1889 Mark Twain novel on which the movie was based.)In an episode of Whose Line is it Anyway?, Ryan Stiles sings 'We wuv you, Walla Walla, Washington.'Jazz singer Nellie Lutcher had a 78-RPM release in the 1940s entitled 'Wish I Was in Walla Walla.' The song was written Sharon A. Pease.