Kennewick, city, Benton County, southeastern Washington, a port on the Columbia River (near its confluence with the Snake River); incorporated 1904. It has close ties with the adjacent cities of Pasco and Richland. Kennewick serves as a distribution and processing point for the surrounding irrigated agricultural region in which alfalfa, grapes, corn, beans, asparagus, sugar beets, and cherries are produced. The nearby Hanford Works nuclear power complex is a major employer. The name of the community, platted in 1892, may be derived from a Native American term for “winter paradise.” Population 34,397 (1980); 42,155 (1990); 54,693 (2000).
