Real Estate – Rural Living at its Best!
Zillah, WA is the perfect place for you to invest in your first home, or to invest in that dream view home or country vacation home you’ve thought about for years.
Our small community is known for its terrific schools and its strong community support. Plus, you have easy access to Highway 82 when you want to visit a larger nearby city or make a quick trip to the Cascade Mountains or the Columbia River.
From our quaint downtown, to our tasty restaurants and award winning wineries, there truly is something for everyone who wants to take a step back and live in a community you’d be proud to call home.
Services
BentonREA – internet service provider
KeyBank – banking
Sonkist Properties – John Orange, realtor
TC3 Computing – computer service
Wesselius Insurance
Zillaha Yoga Studio
Personal Services
Country Gentleman Barber Shop
Off the Top Barber
Studio K Hair Salon
Tommie’s Salon Bella
Vet Care and Grooming
Zillah Veterinary Clinic
Tieton Drive Animal Clinic – emergency vet hospital in Yakima
Barking Barnyard Dog Boarding
Debbie’s Pet Grooming – Zillah
Petco – Union Gap
Pet Smart – Union Gap
Shopping
Buds and Blossoms – florist & gifts
Country Garden Antiques
Dollar General
Grace’s Revente
Graze Craze – charcuterie boards & boxes
Hobs Hospice Benefit Store -Thrift Store
Jones Farm (June-September)
Lep-re-kon Harvest Foods – Groceries
No Rhyme or Reason Country Flea Market
Triangle Christmas Tree Farm
Valley Wide Cooperative (formerly Bleyhl Co-Op) – farm & garden
Zillah Pro Hardware
Zillah Teapot Dome Visitor Center – Zillah souvenirs
Medical Community
Local Medical providers include:
- Zillah Family Medicine
- Vintage Valley Family Medicine – Primary Care with Walk-In
- New Life OB/GYN
- Zillah Vision – Optometrist
- Lower Valley Therapy Services – Physical Therapy
- Stafford Dental Center
- Zillah Chiropractic
- Delp Chiropractic and Massage
- Massage Therapist
- Additional specialists can be found in nearby Sunnyside and Yakima
- Valley Hills Funeral Home
Hospitals
Nearest Hospitals are:
Astria Toppenish Hospital – 10 minutes
Astria Sunnyside Hospital – 20 minutes
Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital – 30 minutes
Prosser Memorial Health – 30 minutes
History of Zillah
Zillah is an agricultural community located in Yakima County, Central Washington State. The peaceful rural town sits in the midst of abundant tree fruit orchards and vineyards in the heart of the Rattlesnake Hills AVA. The city was founded in 1891 when the Sunnyside Canal project opened up irrigation in the dry sagebrush shrub steppe lands alongside the Yakima River.
The townsite was named after Miss Zillah Oakes (ca. 1872-1953), the daughter of Thomas Fletcher Oakes, the Northern Pacific Railway president who was a strong proponent of the building of the irrigation canal. The story is told that the 19-year old Miss Zillah was the only female on the arduous trail-breaking journey to what is now Zillah. After she fell off the wagon into a creek on the trip, the entire party agreed the town should be named after her, the youngest member of their expedition.
Soon after the Sunnyside Canal started flowing in 1892, Zillah’s Freeman Walden planted what proved to be a model fruit orchard on 80 acres. By 1902, he had 5,000 apple, pear, cherry, plum, prune and apricot trees. Walden reported that he netted the extraordinary profit of $10,000 in 1902.
Zillah grew to become a residential and business center in the heart of one of the richest agricultural regions in Washington State. The town officially incorporated on January 5, 1911 and had a population of 647 in 1920. Zillah made national news in 1922 with the building of the Teapot Dome Service Station — a teapot shaped building to highlight the national Teapot Dome Scandal.
In recent years, Zillah has become known for its 20+ excellent wineries, many of which win prestigious awards at regional and national wine competitions. Tasting rooms in the wineries draw in tens of thousands of visitors throughout the year. In the 2010 census, its population was just over 3,100.
CHEYNE ROAD in Zillah has a history about the construction of the Sunnyside Canal, that I would like to further expound upon. The seeds of the Sunnyside Canal were planted in the 1870s, when a group of farmers in what was called Kennewock, or Piety Flats, dug a small canal called the Kennewock Ditch at an intake site below Union Gap on the Yakima River. This was a small enterprise; the farmers had no capital and did all of the digging themselves. Yet their small project yielded impressive rewards, because they were soon growing fine orchards and harvesting bountiful crops. In 1891, the Northern Pacific Railroad began constructing the Sunnyside Canal. On October 23, 1905, the Sunnyside Canal was officially transferred to the U.S. Reclamation Service (today’s USBR) which established Sunnyside as one of the two earliest developments in the Yakima River Basin. James Cheyne (my grandfather) was the superintendent for the project. Hence because of his successful oversite of the canal, he was honored with the road that is known as CHEYNE ROAD.
A side note: My grandmother – Belle Cheyne was married to James Cheyne (my grandfather). She was a devout Republican and when President Roosevelt (a Democrat) came to the Cheyne ranch, my grandfather went into their house to get her to come out to meet the President. She threw up her arms and said, ”I am not going to go out to meet any damned Democrat!”
On March 26, 1892, large-scale irrigation of the Yakima Valley commences when water gushes into the Sunnyside Canal for the first time. A throng of spectators gathers at the canal’s headgates after “wending their way down the river road by means of every conveyance possible” (“Water Crowned King”). A band plays a sprightly tune and Miss Dora Allen approaches with a bottle of champagne. “Flow on, thy liquid savior of our land, and blessings on you,” she intones, baptizing the headgates with a spray of champagne (“Water Crowned King”). A huge volume of water roars into the 25-mile-long canal. The Yakima Herald calls it “the beginning of the most important system of irrigation canals in America” (“Water Crowned King”). The expanded Sunnyside Canal system soon becomes the centerpiece of the Yakima Valley’s irrigation system, watering a wealth of orchards, fields, and vineyards. As of 2020, the Sunnyside Canal is 60 miles long, with 44 miles of major subsystem canals and 329 miles of laterals. On October 23, 1905, the Sunnyside Canal was officially transferred to the U.S. Reclamation Service (today’s US Bureau of Reclamation) which established Sunnyside as one of the two earliest developments in the Yakima River Basin.
Additional information on HistoryLink. Source: Sam Cheyne 425-315-5788
Construction of the Sunnyside Canal
Photo Credit: Yakima Memories Collection
Read the story of Walter N. Granger and the building of the Sunnyside Canal
