Cheney

History

Named for Boston railroad tycoon Benjamin Pierce Cheney, Cheney was officially incorporated on November 28, 1883. The City of Cheney is located in Spokane County and is home to 13,255 residents, according to the 2020 Census. 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. The Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League held the majority of their summer training camps at EWU, from 1976 to 1985, and again from 1997 through the 2006 training camp. Cheney developed into the city known today because of its strong ties to education, trail riding, 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 Native American defense occurred in Eastern Washington. Because isolated Eastern Washington was an area of this Native American unrest during the early part of the territorial period, it was not until the late 1860s and early 1870s 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 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 P. Cheney was the eldest son of a blacksmith who was born in 1815 in…

Geography

Cheney is located at (47.488634, -117.578581), at an elevation of . Cheney is at the highest point on the railroads between Spokane and Portland and sits atop the route of the 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 Missoula Floods to the south and east. These scablands now host "pothole" lakes and wetlands, and are home to Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge. There are numerous lakes, along with the Spokane River and Little Spokane River, that are located within of Cheney that provide abundant recreational opportunities such as boating, swimming, water skiing, and fishing. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, is land and is water. Nearby cities and towns * Spokane * Medical Lake * Airway Heights * Four Lakes Cheney is located on the edge of the semi-arid region leading up to the foothills of the Selkirk Mountains, where the summers are hot and dry, and winters are cold, wet, and windy.

Race & ethnicity