Odessa, WA

Odessa is a Lincoln County town in eastern Washington's Big Bend wheat country, where State Routes 21 and 28 meet. The Great Northern Railroad reached the valley in 1892, the town was platted in 1899, and Odessa incorporated in 1902. Many of the first settlers were Volga Germans from the Black Sea region, and the name points back to Odesa, Ukraine. The post office has operated since 1898, making the town's name a long-running part of the local mail and farm map. The 2020 census counted 896 residents.

Deutschesfest keeps that heritage visible on the third full weekend of September, when German food, music, a Biergarten, a parade, and other events fill the town. The Odessa Historisches Museum, founded in 1971, preserves the story of the German-Russian settlement and the surrounding wheat country; it opens on Sundays in season and throughout Deutschesfest weekend. Odessa's junction, museum, post office, grain country, and festival all point to the same small town built by rail, farming, and families carrying a long cultural memory.