History of Prosser

In 1882, Colonel William Farrand Prosser, special agent for the Department of the Interior, filed a land claim near the falls in the Yakima River.  The new town site was called Prosser Falls.

 

When Mrs. Prosser, who was the community's first postmistress, wrote to the Post Office Department asking that the name of Prosser Falls be designated for the new post office, the department replied there were so many communities with Falls for the name that it would be confusing to add another.  At that time, Falls was dropped and the town became known as Prosser.

 

 In 1899, Prosser was incorporated and when Benton County was formed in 1905 it became the County Seat. The railroad and irrigation in the early 1900's played a huge part in making Prosser a flourishing town.

 

The first pioneers in the area were ranchers of cattle and sheep, or farmed dry land wheat in the dry arid shrub steppe climate. Irrigation in the Yakima Valley, and in more recent years on the Horse Heaven Hills, has been a driving economic force for our community.  All varieties of grain, vegetables, fruit and many grape vineyards surround our valley.

 

Learn more about Prosser from the Benton County Museum and Historical Society.