City of Tekoa Whitman County, Washington

Mapped Location

City of Tekoa: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.

 

Information

General information on City of Tekoa

  • Feature Type: Incorporated

 

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for City of Tekoa

A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named

Name Description
City of Tekoa Official
Tekoa Official

 

Origin Notes and History of City of Tekoa

References to City of Tekoa that document the origin of its place name

Title Cover Image: Origin of Washington geographic names

TEKOA, a town in the northeastern part of Whitman County, has a name taken from the Bible. In 1906, at the request of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, there was prepared a list of place names in Washington supposed to be of Indian origin. The list was published in the Seattle Times on October 6, 1906, and in 1907 it was again published in a book, Sketches of Washingtonians, pages 5-12. In 1908, the list was issued as a pamphlet by the Hyatt-Fowells School. In all these printings the name of Tekoa was given as an Indian word, the information being originally gathered from Tomeo, an Indian of Nespelem, who was sincere in his belief that it was a Palouse Indian word. Arthur M. Johnson, of the Science Department of the Colfax High School, wrote a kindly letter saying an error had been made, and that the village had been named by a woman pioneer who took the word from the Bible. In 1913, Rev. Frederick Tonge, of Davenport, called attention to the fact that the word appears several times in the Old Testament. In the Hebrew, the word means "firm" or "settlement." In a city of Judah, by the name of Tekoa, six miles from Bethlehem and twelve miles from Jerusalem, there lived the Prophet Amos and also the wise woman who interceded with David. (II. Samuel XIV: 2-20.)

Edmond S. Meany in Origin of Washington Geographic Names
Meany, Edmond S., Origin of Washington Geographic Names, 1923 University of Washington, pp 303-304  |  Origin of Washington Geographic Names

 

Whitman County

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2024-06-03