This Week in Odessa History

Eighty years ago, in February 1933, when the Great Depression was still raging, the Washington State Legislature was considering a bill for the consolidation of sparsely populated contiguous counties as a means of cutting costs of government.

Lincoln, Adams and Grant Counties were then three of the state’s smallest counties. Lincoln County was the largest, with a population of 11,876 inhabitants, Adams County followed with 7,719 and Grant County was third with 5,666.

Odessa was in the center of this 6,912-square-mile, three-county region, and might have been the logical location for the courth...