Гермистон, Орегон: История и современность города

Hermiston ('/h//ɜːr//m//ə//s//t//ə//n///) is a city in Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. Its population of 20,322 makes it the largest city in Eastern Oregon. Hermiston is the largest and fastest growing city in the Hermiston Pendleton Micropolitan Statistical Area, the eighth largest Core Based Statistical Area in Oregon with a combined population of 92,261 at the 2020 census.

The historic inhabitants of the area were the indigenous Umatilla, Cayuse, Walla Walla, and Columbia Indians, descendants of peoples who lived in this area for thousands of years. The earliest European settlers established a mission near Pendleton in 1847. The territorial government organized Umatilla County in 1862 from the larger Wasco County. On July 10, 1907, the town of Hermiston was incorporated. The original railroad station was named Maxwell, likely after a contemporary official at the railroad company. Colonel J. F. McNaught, an early settler in the region, later named it Hermiston from Robert Louis Stevenson's unfinished novel Weir of Hermiston. The greater Hermiston region began to see irrigated agriculture in 1908, with the completion of the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation's Umatilla Basin Project in the form of Cold Springs Reservoir. The region saw modest growth until the outbreak of World War II, when the Umatilla Army Depot was constructed, causing Hermiston's population to jump from 803 at the 1940 US Census to 3,804 in 1950. The region continued to experience modest growth for the next several decades until the 1970's, when low power costs coupled with the development of center pivot irrigation resulted in a significant expansion in agricultural acreage put in to potato production. The expansion of potato production coincided with the development of large potato processing plants by Lamb Weston and Simplot, focusing on frozen potato products. The associated economic development drove Hermiston's population to nearly double from 4,893 in 1970 to 9,408 by 1980. The 1990's brought additional large employment developments to the Hermiston region in the form of Two Rivers Correctional Institution, a Wal Mart Distribution Center, expansion of the Union Pacific Hinkle Rail Yard, and beginning of the Umatilla Army Depot's Chemical Weapon Incineration process. The 2000's have seen continued growth and diversification of the regional economy as Hermiston has grown to a population of 19,354 at the 2020 Census and has become a regional center for commercial and professional services. The city is also known for its Watermelons, which are part of its branding.

Hermiston serves as the retail and services center for much of western Umatilla County, as well as Morrow County and parts of Gilliam county. Hermiston's Local Trade Area, which describes the area where people will travel to purchase items on a weekly basis, stretches from Pendleton on the East, the Columbia River to the North, Heppner to the South, and Gilliam County to the West. There were 46,000 people living within Hermiston's Local Trade Area based on 2010 U. S. Census data. Despite a relatively robust local retail & services market, Hermiston experiences significant retail sales leakage to the Tri Cities for items purchased on less than a weekly basis. The Tri Cities, located approximately 30 minutes north of Hermiston in Washington, had a metro area population of 275,740 as of April 1, 2014, making it the fourth largest metropolitan area in Washington.

The City of Hermiston Parks Department maintains 15 parks, 15 landscape areas, and 100 plus acres for the enjoyment of the community. In addition to the developed parks, the Department also has 50 additional acres planned for future development. Recent major enhancements include the additions of Riverfront Park, the Oxbow Trail, and continual additions to the Hermiston Family Aquatic Center. Riverfront Park features 16 acres of open grassy areas alongside the Umatilla River, as well as nearly a mile of paved walking paths, with picnic shelters, restrooms, and fishing access. A 1.8 mile paved walking path, named the Oxbow Trail, was added in 2015 to connect Riverfront Park with the north side of town near Good Shepherd Medical Center. The Trail winds through protected wetland area for nearly the entirety of its length and also connects to Harrison Park.

According to the Köppen climate classification system, Hermiston has a steppe climate (Köppen BSk). This gives the area hot dry summers with high daytime temperatures which do cool considerably overnight, and relatively cold winters which typically yield several snow storms per year with relatively minimal accumulation. On June 29, 2021 a max temperature of was recorded in Hermiston, which is just one degree below the new all time record high temperature for the State of Oregon, which was set in Jefferson County on the same day.

Portland State University's Population Research Center (PRC) provides the official annual population estimates for cities and counties to the State of Oregon for the purposes of state shared funding allocations. PSU's 2023 Certified Population Estimate for Hermiston was 20,322. Due to the PRC's more detailed analysis, these estimates have proven more accurate than the U. S. Census Bureau's annual estimates.

As of the U. S. 2020 census, there were 19,354 people residing in the city, a growth of 2,609 residents since the 2010 Census. Due to its consistent growth registering as an outlier among rural communities across the U. S., the 2020 Census figure far out paced the Census Bureau's 2019 estimate for the community of 17,782.

Hermiston High School competes at the 3A level in the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association. This cross state membership was approved by the WIAA in 2017 in recognition of the lack of comparable sized large high schools elsewhere in Eastern Oregon. The second largest High School in Eastern Oregon was Pendleton, with only 815 students, compared to Hermiston's 1,703. The WIAA membership allows HHS to compete in the Mid Columbia Conference against high schools from Kennewick, Richland, Pasco, and Walla Walla, Washington and significantly reduce travel times for conference games.

Blue Mountain Community College has a branch in Hermiston. Eastern Oregon University also hosts undergraduate and graduate level courses at the Eastern Oregon Higher Education Center in Hermiston.

Hermiston benefits from being near the exact center of the Pacific Northwest, and at the crossroads of several major interstate highways. Drivers can easily access all four major Northwest metropolitan areas in just a half day's drive. Portland is less than 3 hours to the West, and drivers can also reach Spokane in less than 3 hours to the northeast, while Seattle and Boise are both approximately 4 hours away to the northwest and southeast, respectively. Highways serving Hermiston include Interstate 84 and U. S. Route 30, both of which run east–west, U. S. Route 395, which runs north–south, and Interstate 82, which has its southern terminus near Hermiston and continues north to Ellensburg, Washington. Major transportation related businesses in Hermiston include Wal Mart's Northwest Distribution Center, and both FedEx and United Parcel Service (UPS) have freight distribution facilities in Hermiston.

Hermiston is on the La Grande Subdivision of the Union Pacific Railroad, constructed originally through the area in the 1870s as the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company. Railroad facilities include the Hinkle Locomotive Service and Repair Facility and "hump yard" located just outside the city.

Hermiston Municipal Airport is a city owned airport serving General Aviation pilots, corporate jet traffic, agricultural operations, and cargo operations. There are currently no commercial flights out of Hermiston. Tri Cities Airport is located approximately 40 minutes north of Hermiston, and offers commercial flights to Seattle, Salt Lake City, Denver, Minneapolis, Las Vegas, Portland, San Francisco, and Phoenix. In 2014, due to strong growth in demand, the Port of Pasco approved a $42 million renovation and expansion, that will double the size of the current terminal.