[5] Along with the nearby cities of Pasco and Kennewick, Richland forms the Tri-Cities metropolitan area.

The U.S. Army acquired the city and surrounding areas in 1943 for the establishment of the Hanford nuclear site, part of the Manhattan Project during World War II.

Richland was transformed into a bedroom community for Hanford workers and grew to 25,000 residents by the end of the war.

[6] In 1904–1905, W.R. Amon and his son Howard purchased 2,300 acres (9 km2) and proposed a town site on the north bank of the Yakima River.

Postal authorities approved the designation of this town site as Richland in 1905, naming it for Nelson Rich,[7] a state legislator and land developer.

[citation needed] Population growth in Richland accelerated following the opening of a permanent bridge over the Yakima River in 1907 and a highway to Kennewick in 1926.

[6] Richland was a small farm town until the U.S. Army purchased 640 sq mi (1,660 km2) of land – half the size of Rhode Island – along the Columbia River during World War II for the Manhattan Project.

On March 6, 1943, over 300 residents of Richland as well as those of the now vanished towns of White Bluffs and Hanford just upriver were evicted after a federal court order had condemned their properties for wartime use.

Everything necessary was provided, from free bus service to light bulbs, and trees were planted in people's yards by the government.

[citation needed] Much of the city was planned by Spokane architect Gustav Albin Pherson and overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers.

While there were dormitories and barracks built at the time, prefabricated duplexes and single-family homes are all that survive today.

In 1954, Harold Orlando Monson was elected the first mayor of Richland and traveled to Washington, D.C., to negotiate increased rights (such as private home ownership) for citizens in military cities across the country.

[9][11] Among the first additions to the new city was an expanded public library, which had been built by General Electric out of a Quonset hut.

[citation needed] With the shutdown of the last production reactor in 1987, the area transitioned to environmental cleanup and technology.

[citation needed] Richland High School's sports teams are called the Bombers, complete with a mushroom cloud logo.

A local museum, the Reach Museum, tells the story of the cultural, natural, and scientific history of the Hanford Reach and Columbia Basin area; it replaced the now closed Columbia River Exhibition of History, Science, and Technology (CREHST) in 2014.

The Richland Community Center is adjacent to Howard Amon Park, on the east side of the Columbia River.

Many of its rooms have views of the park and Columbia River, which make it a venue for weddings and receptions, family reunions, birthday parties, business, and community meetings.

The Community Center also serves as a gathering place for group recreation and gaming: cribbage, pinochle, bridge, pool, dominoes, and a host of other social activities are available to the public at large.

More recently, the Richland Community Center has hosted several important civic events including the Green Living Awards[13] and the Fall Carnival.

[16] After the end of World War II, Richland continued to be a center of production and research into nuclear energy and related technology.

[citation needed] The Columbia Valley appellation which surrounds Richland contains over 7,000 hectares planted with wine grapes.

Columbia Basin College, primarily located in Pasco, has a small branch campus in Richland.

Washington State University, Tri-Cities, established in North Richland in 1989, sits on the western bank of the Columbia River.

[citation needed] Richland has developed a number of parks, several of them fronting the Columbia and Yakima Rivers.

The rivers provide boating, water skiing, fishing, kayaking and waterfowl hunting opportunities.

In the late 1970s, Richland sought to annex 5 square miles (13 km2) of unincorporated land in Franklin County on the east side of the Columbia River, anticipating development following the construction of Interstate 182.

Richland receives about 7 inches (180 mm) of precipitation per year, giving it a semi-arid desert climate and resulting in a shrub-steppe environment.

Summers are hot with infrequent thunderstorms, while winters are milder than all of Eastern Washington with snow falling only occasionally.