The first, "Clearing the Land", was painted in 1989, and the city hosts horse-drawn tours and annual art events.

[7][8][9][10] All territory set aside for the Yakama Indian Reservation by the Treaty of Washington was held communally in the name of the tribe.

The treaty of 1855, between the United States government, representatives from thirteen other bands, tribes, and Chief Kamiakin, resulted in the Yakama Nation relinquishing 16,920 square miles (43,800 km2) of their homeland.

More white settlers migrated into the region, looking for farming land, and joined the ranchers in older settlements bordering the Columbia River.

The Dawes Act of 1887 was part of federal legislation designed to force assimilation to European-American ways by Native Americans.

Specifically, it was designed to break up the communal tribal land of Native American reservations and allot portions to individual households of tribal members, in order to encourage subsistence farming in the European-American style and familiarity with western conceptions of property.

Josephine Bowser Lillie was among Native Americans granted an 80-acre (320,000 m2) allotment of land within the Yakama Reservation.

A driving figure in Toppenish's early development was William Leslie Shearer (October 31, 1862 – June 5, 1922).

Since Toppenish had no church in 1897 Shearer obtained permission from the Northern Pacific Railroad Company and offered the freight room for religious services.

About a year later, Shearer sold out, turning his attention to the newly organized Yakima Produce and Trading company, with George Plank, A.W.

The company bought some acreage and leased more sagebrush land to develop the 1700-acre ranch near Satus Station.

The word means ‘protruded, stuck out’ and recalls a landslide that occurred on the ridge south of White Swan, Washington.

[11] According to William Bright, the name "Toppenish" comes from the Sahaptin word /txápniš/, referring to a landslide, from /txá-/, "accidentally", /-pni-/, "to launch, to take forth and out", and /-ša/, "continuative present tense".

[12] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.17 square miles (5.62 km2), all land.

Of these, the violent crimes consisted of 8 murders, 3 forcible rapes, 27 robberies and 26 aggravated assaults, while 88 burglaries, 333 larceny-thefts, 101 motor vehicle thefts and 2 acts of arson defined the property offenses.