The surrounding Kittitas Valley is internationally known for the timothy-hay that it produces.

John Alden Shoudy came to the Kittitas Valley in 1871, and purchased a small trading post from Andrew Jackson " A. J.

Shoudy was not the first settler in the Kittitas Valley, nor was he the first businessperson, but he was responsible for platting the city of Ellensburgh in the 1870s, and he was the person who named the streets in the downtown district.

* William Denison Lyman, History of the Yakima Valley, Washington: Comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties.

* William Denison Lyman, History of the Yakima Valley, Washington: Comprising Yakima, Kittitas, and Benton Counties.

* The CWU Brooks Library Frederick Krueger Photograph Collection The Frederick Krueger Collection contains images of the Upper Kittitas Valley of Washington State from the 1880s to the 1960s.

It is located at the picturesque narrow west end of the Kittitas Valley (, ) where high elevation timber lands of the Cascade Range, with mountain lakes and vacation homes, give way to horse country and cattle ranches surrounded by rich, irrigated farmlands noted for Timothy hay, alfalfa, vegetables, fruit, and forage production.

Thorp is named for Fielden Mortimer Thorp, recognized as the first permanent white settler in the Kittitas Valley.

Klála, an ancient Native American village and the largest indigenous settlement in the Kittitas Valley at the arrival of the first white settlers, was located about one mile above the current town site.

Interstate 90 drops through the Thorp Drift, which marks the oldest and furthest reaching known glacial moraine in the Kittitas Valley.

At the bottom of the Thorp Drift moraine the view opens up into the Kittitas Valley which is deeply buried in river gravel deposited by the ancient Yakima River.

At the time when white settlers first passed through the Kittitas Valley, their principal chiefs were Teias and Owhi.

The largest indigenous settlement in the Kittitas Valley at the arrival of the white settlers was Klála, a village of around 500 people located about one mile above the present town of Thorp along the Yakima River opposite the mouth of Taneum Creek.

Among the earliest records of Native American interaction with frontiersmen in the Kittitas Valley took place in 1858, the summer of the Yakima War, when a large contingency of Wanapum from Priest Rapids camped at the head of Taneum Canyon very close to where the town of Thorp is now located.

Thorp is named for Fielden Mortimer Thorp ( 1822-94 ), the first permanent white settler in the Kittitas Valley.

Until the mid-1850s, the Kittitas Valley saw little encroachment by pioneer settlers.

Settlers began to trickle into the Kittitas Valley with the opening of the Snoqualmie Wagon Road in 1867, which approximated the modern-day route of Interstate 90 past Thorp, from Seattle to Ellensburg.

In 1868, they became the first permanent white settlers in the Kittitas Valley, building the Thorp and Splawn homesteads at the head of Taneum Canyon on the banks of Taneum Creek.

Shortly thereafter, the F. M. Thorp and Charles Splawn families were joined by their friend Walter J. Reed, the second settler in the Kittitas Valley, who later established the community of Cle Elum.

The first post office in the Kittitas Valley was established as Taneum Station at the home of F. M. Thorp in 1869.

In 1878, James L. Mills traversed the trail over the Cascade Mountains from Puget Sound by foot, and saw great possibilities in the Kittitas Valley.

Chinese laborers or " coolies " were brought in first to build the Northern Pacific spur, and again to extend the Milwaukee Road through the Kittitas Valley.

Population growth for the 1990s was projected at 7. 9 % in Kittitas County, 19. 7 % in Yakima County, and 22. 7 % in Benton County.

Chelan County was created out of Okanogan and Kittitas Counties on March 13, 1899.

Kittitas was established in 1889 it was officially incorporated on December 9, 1931.

Kittitas was constructed as part of the westward expansion of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific Railroad, the Kittitas Yard and Depot Became the center of the community of Kittitas: one of the many small, agricultural towns that sprang up along the railroad lines.

" It was on the fourth day out that we came to the beautiful Kittitas valley.

Goodwin was later appointed the first sheriff of Kittitas County upon the first meeting of the county commissioners in Ellensburg on December 17, 1883.

It was the system of water delivery that made the mills at Thorp possible, and the farming lands around Thorp are the oldest irrigated section in Kittitas County.

Kittitas County Fire District No. 1 was organized in that same year at Thorp, and is the oldest fire protection district in the state.

In 1962, it was placed under the management of Kittitas County Cemetery District No. 1.

* The Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility in central Washington ’ s Kittitas County began production in 2006 and was expanded to include 22 turbines in 2009.

In 1995 a nearby Tri-Cities newspaper, the Tri-City Herald, reported that Waters was not listed in the Kittitas County telephone directory or the register of taxpayers, and that authorities in Ellensburg were unable to find any evidence that he was a resident, thus calling into question whether he existed.

A Northern Pacific Railway station at the future site of the city of Cle Elum was named Clealum after the Kittitas name Tie-el-Lum, meaning " swift water ", referring to the Cle Elum River.

The rodeo arena is encompassed by the popular Kittitas County Fair, also held during Labor Day weekend.

Documents held by the Kittitas County Genealogical Society confirm her death as " caused by hanging by unknown person ," listing her father as Salmon La Sac.

KYVE is rebroadcast on K17IL Channel 17 Ellensburg, owned by the Kittitas County TV Improvement District.

KAPP is rebroadcast on K20JL-D Channel 20, a low-powered digital translator in Ellensburg, Washington, which is owned and operated by the Kittitas County TV Improvement District.

KIMA-TV is rebroadcast on K50KK-D Channel 50 in Ellensburg, Washington, which is owned and operated by the Kittitas County TV Improvement District.

* K38KL-D Channel 38 Ellensburg ( owned by Kittitas County )

KNDO is rebroadcast on K32IG-D ( channel 32 ), a low-powered digital translator in Ellensburg, Washington, owned and operated by the Kittitas County TV Improvement District.