Richland sits in southeastern Washington at the confluence of the Yakima and Columbia rivers, and together with Kennewick and Pasco it forms the Tri-Cities, the population hub of the dry, sunny Columbia Basin. The city was a quiet farming settlement of a few hundred people — named in 1905 for landowner and legislator Nelson Rich — until the Second World War transformed it almost overnight. In 1943 the federal government chose the area for the secret Manhattan Project, building the Hanford Engineer Works to produce plutonium and constructing thousands of homes for the workers who flooded in. Within a few years the population jumped from a few hundred to tens of thousands. That wartime legacy remains visible everywhere. The city's core is defined by its "alphabet houses" — the A, B, D, E, F, G, H, and L model homes designed by Spokane architect Gustav Albin Pehrson beginning in 1943 — which still form some of Richland's most recognizable older neighborhoods. Today the Hanford connection has matured into a science economy: the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory, has its main campus in Richland and employs thousands of researchers and staff, and Hanford cleanup work remains a regional economic pillar. Richland's other identity is as an outdoor and wine-country city. The region's notably sunny, arid climate — the Hanford Site has recorded the state's hottest temperature — supports more than 200 wineries in the surrounding Columbia Valley, with the Red Mountain appellation nearby, and the Columbia and Yakima rivers provide boating, fishing, and riverside parks. For households, Richland offers an unusual blend: a science-driven job base, a walkable mid-century housing core, and ready access to river recreation and vineyards. It suits professionals tied to the laboratory and energy industries as well as people drawn to the Tri-Cities' comparatively relaxed, sun-soaked pace.