Editing Lind, Washington (section)

==History==
Lind was first settled in 1888 on a relatively barren area along the [[Northern Pacific Railway]]'s main line by the Neilson Brothers, James and Dugal. The site had previously been selected in 1881 for a station (an old [[boxcar]]) and section house and was named Lind by the railroad although the exact origin of that name has been lost.<ref name="place">Phillips, James W. ''Washington State Place Names''. 8th ed. Seattle: [[University of Washington Press]], 1971. One local story has it that the town was named after [[Jenny Lind]], the Swedish Nightingale, who came through the town on the train, but Jenny finished her American tour in 1852 and went to London that year, long before the train line was built, and died in 1887.   Print.</ref> In the autumn of 1888 the Neilson Brothers built the first Lind residence and two years later they built and stocked a store and resumed postal service which until then had been processed in [[Ritzville]] and tossed off in town by passing trains. James Neilson became the first postmaster. The first school opened in 1889 with six students in attendance. The Neilson Brothers [[plat]]ted the town site on June 7, 1890, which consisted of only four square blocks. The [[Panic of 1893]] would stave off any further development of the town site until the turn of the century.<ref name="history"/>

By 1899 the panic was starting to wear off and the local wheat crop, of high quality, was growing in demand. Lind began to expand in size. A new post office and saloon were built and a lumber yard was started and by the end of the year, the population was nearing 100. By the end of 1901, several brick buildings were being constructed for a bank and other stores and hundreds of temporary dwellings were constructed by settlers. A new school and three churches were built. Between 1898 and 1903, Lind grew immensely to a population of about 600 and saw the opening of many more stores, restaurants, a second bank, real estate offices and a newspaper, ''The Lind Leader''. Lind was incorporated on January 26, 1902. Dugal Neilson was elected mayor while his brother James was elected treasurer.<ref name="history">''An Illustrated History of The Big Bend Country, Embracing Lincoln, Douglas, Adams and Franklin Counties''. Spokane, Washington: Western Historical Publishing Company, 1904. Print.</ref>

The [[Milwaukee Road]] would later lay its tracks through the south side of town, which is now the [[John Wayne Pioneer Trail]].

When the Neilson brothers platted the town site of Lind, they named all of the north to south streets to eventually spell out their surname. The town only grew large enough to spell "Neilso".

The local Jr./Sr. High School has changed mascots many times some of which are Lind Bulldogs, Lind-Kahlotus Blue Devils, Lind-Ritzville Broncos, and the current Lind-Ritzville-Sprague Broncos which is classified as a 2B school according to the WIAA. Old time rival the Rearden Indians has been kept, but due to the great success with the local football program, it has been the very challenging Colfax Bulldogs. Also, due to state funding, the local high school will move to the nearby town of Ritzville, WA. The middle school remains at Lind as same with Ritzville.<ref name="place"/>

On August 4, 2022, the entire town [[2022 Washington wildfires|was ordered to evacuate]] due to an approaching [[wildfire]], which destroyed 10 homes.<ref>{{cite news |last=Utter |first=Joe |date=August 4, 2022 |title=State mobilization approved for 2,000-acre Lind fire |url=https://www.ifiberone.com/columbia_basin/update-entire-town-of-lind-being-evacuated-due-to-wildfire/article_3e2c7b32-142b-11ed-b92f-1bdcbd1f1ec2.html |work=iFiberOne News |accessdate=August 4, 2022}}</ref> Local highways were also shut down while firefighters moved into the area to control the wildfire.<ref>{{cite news |date=August 4, 2022 |title=Washington town told to leave due to wildfire, homes lost |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/residents-of-eastern-washington-town-told-to-leave-due-to-wildfire-homes-lost/ |work=The Seattle Times |agency=Associated Press |accessdate=August 4, 2022}}</ref>

{{wide image|Lind, Washington panorama (1906).jpg|800 px|Lind, 1906}}