Ainsworth, Washington, was a

Franklin County, Washington Franklin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 96,749. The county seat and largest city is Pasco. The county was formed out of Whitman County on November 28, 1883, and is named ...

town located on the northern bank of the mouth of the Snake River, in what is now

Pasco, Washington Pasco ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Franklin County, Washington, United States. It had a population of 59,781 at the 2010 census, and 75,432 as of the July 1, 2019 Census Bureau estimate. Pasco is one of three cities (the others b ...

. Ainsworth was built as a depot on the

Northern Pacific Railroad The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, whi ...

, and named after John C. Ainsworth, president of the

Oregon Steam Navigation Company The Oregon Steam Navigation Company (O.S.N.) was an American company Incorporation (business), incorporated in 1860 in Washington (U.S. state), Washington with partners J. S. Ruckle, Henry Olmstead, and J. O. Van Bergen. It was incorporated in Was ...

. The town was platted in 1879. Thomas Symons, the US Army engineer at the site commented at the time, When Franklin County was created from Whitman County in 1883, Ainsworth served as the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

. At the time, a number of Chinese laborers also lived in Ainsworth - many of whom worked for the railroad and operated local businesses. In 1884, a railroad bridge across the Snake River was completed. By 1885, many of the buildings in Ainsworth were either dismantled or moved to Pasco. The Chinese laborers also moved to the new town, and established their own district, but most of them left when the railroad work was completed and the work let up. In 1885, the State Legislature officially moved the county seat to Pasco. Over the years, Pasco increased in size and engulfed the original townsite.

Notes and references

{{coord, 46.217, -119.027, region:US, display=title Ghost towns in Washington (state)