Kennewick is a city in Benton County in the southeastern part of the State of Washington, near the Hanford nuclear site. It is the most populous of the three cities collectively referred to as the Tri-Cities (the others being Pasco and Richland). Kennewick is located along the southwest bank of the Columbia River, opposite Pasco and just southeast of the confluence of the Columbia and Yakima rivers. Forbes magazine named Kennewick the #2 area in the United States for job growth, while nearby Yakima was named #1.

LDS Population

LDS Members make up 8.23% of the population of Kennewick. In the state of Washington there are 149,089 members in 36 stakes, 253 wards, 50 branches, 3 missions, and 3 temples.

LDS History

In 1852, John Bozarth, a Church member who had lived in Nauvoo, Ill., settled on the Lewis River in Washington Territory. In 1854 four missionaries serving in California, John Hughes, Clark Faben, Alfred Bybee, and Silas Harris, were sent to labor in the Washington and Oregon territories. Many Church members worked on the construction of the Northern Pacific and Oregon Short Line railroads in the 1880s and a few later moved into the Northwest.