Kennewick

In its 100-year history, Kennewick (ken-uh-wick) evolved from a railroad town to a farm-supply center and then to a bedroom community for Hanford workers and a food-processing capital for the Columbia Basin. The name Kennewick translates as "grassy place," and Native Americans had winter villages here long before Lewis and Clark passed through. Arrowheads and other artifacts aside, the 9,000-year-old skeleton of Kennewick Man was studied by scientists at the University of Washington to determine whether its features are Native American or, as some claim, Caucasian. Nearly two decades after its discovery, it was finally confirmed to be Native American and turned over to tribes for burial.