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Ellensburg, Washington

18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1899 and the latest in 1961. It stands in the Ellensburg census division. It lies in ZIP code area 98926. It stands on Mercer Creek. The Survey maps it on the Ellensburg South quadrangle. 18,666 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,542 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Ellensburg within Kittitas County

On record in Ellensburg

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 11 records

Population over time

2 figures

Ellensburg grew from 18,174 to 18,666 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
201018,174
202018,666+492 (+3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 18 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

12 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Ellensburg between 1996 and 2020, burning about 431 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined7
Recreation and ceremony2
Debris and open burning1
Arson/incendiarism1
Natural1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
11 September 2020Arson/incendiarismunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersHOME STEAD
30 July 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersTHRALL ROAD
30 July 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersIREEN RINEHART
26 July 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersSTONE QUARRY
26 July 2004Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMt. Baker-Snoqualmie National ForestWRONG CREEK
16 July 2014Naturalunder an acreOkanogan-Wenatchee National ForestDUNCAN HILL 2
10 July 1996Missing data/not specified/undetermined320 acresSpokane DistrictMANASTASH
10 July 1996Debris and open burning100 acresWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Kittitas County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 21 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 21 workings within 5 miles of Ellensburg: 20 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Gemstone. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Craige HillSilicaPast Producer
Ellensburg DepositClayPast Producer
Traprock QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Unnamed PitGemstonePast Producer
Boyd PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Desmond PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Donahue PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Goebel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Lester PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Lym PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Kittitas County

Storms near this place

8 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ellensburg in 8 storm reports between 1998 and 2017: 2 heavy rain, 1 flash flood, 1 dust devil, 1 funnel cloud. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
September 2010LightningEllensburg$60,000Lightning struck an 80 foot fir tree and started a house fire. The lightning split the tree and the energy was transferred into the cast iron sewer pipe and into the home catching the house on fire. A large piece of the split tree hit a car that was parked across the street.
March 2017FloodEllensburg-Small Stream Flooding was reported along numerous creeks draining into the western sections of Ellensburg. Several roads were closed due to water including Railroad, Dolarway, Enterprise and West Thrall Roads. Most of the flooding was along Reecer and Dry Creek with water surrounding several businesses and homes.
July 2012Heavy RainEllensburg-One inch of rainfall observed in 1 hour.
June 2009Heavy RainEllensburg-Rainfall of 0.79 inch occurred in 10 minutes accompanied by 1/4 inch hail.
July 2008HailEllensburg-Hail started as penny size and grew to nickel size.
May 1999Dust DevilEllensburg-A dust devil peeled off the roof of a mobile home near Ellensburg.
April 2005Funnel CloudEllensburg-no account filed
July 1998Flash FloodEllensburg-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Kittitas County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Holmes2.8 miles18
Regal4.3 miles15
Thrall5.0 miles18
Edgemont6.8 miles15
Kittitas7.0 miles15
Thorp8.2 miles14
Umtanum9.8 miles13
East Kittitas9.8 miles13

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on EllensburgAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q868684The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1519305. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.