Toppenish Map
Toppenish is a city in Yakima County, Washington, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 8,949.
The General Allotment Act of 1887 granted an 80-acre (320,000 m2) allotment of land to a woman of half Indian ancestry, Josephine Bowser Lillie, known as "The Mother of Toppenish". Lillie platted the north 40 acres (160,000 m2) of her land and these tracts became the first deeded land to be sold on the Yakama Nation Reservation.
Prior to the act's implementation, all territory set aside by the Treaty of 1855 was in the name of the tribe. None of the land was individually owned. 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. Prior to ceding their land, the area was inhabited solely by Native Americans. The only white pioneers before the coming of the railroad in 1883 were ranchers from older settlements bordering the Columbia River.
Nearby cities include White Swan, Zillah, Union Gap, Granger, Moxee.