Ephrata, Washington, United States

🇺🇸 Ephrata is a city in and the county seat of Grant County, Washington, United States.

History Ephrata was officially incorporated on June 21, 1909 and was given the county seat for the newly created Grant County.

The settlement of Ephrata is quite recent. There was no known settlement until 1886, just three years before Washington gained statehood. The horse rancher Frank Beezley was the first to settle near the natural springs, thus the area was known as Beezley Springs. As the climate and topography were not promising to settlement, the entire region remained sparsely populated until several federal congressional actions, including the Northern Pacific Land Grant Act, the Homestead Act, and Desert Claims Act, encouraged the settlement of this semi-arid desert-like area. Originally, Douglas County spread over the entire territory of the Big Bend of the Columbia River. In 1909, the Washington State legislature divided it, creating Grant County. When the time came to present arguments to the state legislature regarding which town should be the county seat, someone apparently intentionally intoxicated the representative of a rival community, and Ephrata was chosen.

It is generally believed that the city was named Ephrata by a man who worked for the Great Northern Railway. The name Ephrata is derived from a biblical description of an orchard in the middle of the desert. It is also the ancient name for the town of Bethlehem.

The region was known at the turn of the century for the great herds of wild horses that roamed the land. Horse trading was an important element of the local economy, and Ephrata served as the staging area for the horse round-ups. The last "Grand Horse Round-up" was held in Ephrata in 1906. Ephrata then developed as a trade and service centre for cattle and sheep ranches in the area until the construction of the Columbia Basin Reclamation Project.

In 1939, one of the state's longest runways was built at Ephrata Municipal Airport and served the U.S. Army Air Corps until 1945, when the field was turned into a commercial airport. The airport and hangars were used in Steven Spielberg's 1989 film Always, the final movie to feature Audrey Hepburn.

Grant County Public Utility District has its headquarters located in Ephrata.

Transportation • Ephrata (Amtrak station) • Ephrata Municipal Airport.