Editing Richland, Washington (section)

===Transition to private property===

In 1954, Harold Orlando Monson was elected the first mayor of Richland and traveled to Washington, D.C., to negotiate increased rights (such as private home ownership) for citizens in military cities across the country.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}} The U.S. Congress passed a law the following year to mandate the transfer of Richland and Oak Ridge to local control within five years, spurring a new incorporation attempt.<ref name="HL-Incorporation">{{cite web |last=Kershner |first=Jim |date=January 8, 2008 |title=Richland votes to incorporate as a first-class city, thus making the transition from being federally owned to being a self-governing city, on July 15, 1958. |url=https://www.historylink.org/file/8452 |work=HistoryLink |access-date=October 23, 2024 |archive-date=November 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241102221631/https://www.historylink.org/file/8452 |url-status=live }}</ref> The federal government relinquished its land holdings in 1957 and sold the city's real estate to residents; the last home was sold on May 16, 1960.<ref>{{cite news |date=December 11, 1960 |title=All A-City Homes Are Sold |page=8 |work=Tri-City Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/tri-city-herald-all-a-city-homes-are-sol/157726164/ |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=October 23, 2024 |archive-date=November 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241127222515/https://www.newspapers.com/article/tri-city-herald-all-a-city-homes-are-sol/157726164/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Most of the people lived in duplexes; senior tenants were given the option to purchase the building; junior tenants were given the option to purchase lots in a newly platted area of north Richland.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

Richland was re-incorporated as a chartered first-class city on December 10, 1958, five months after residents voted in favor of self-governance as a city.<ref name="HL-Incorporation"/><ref>{{cite news |date=December 14, 1958 |title=Cool Air Cuts Crowd For Charter Affair |page=1 |work=Tri-City Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/tri-city-herald-cool-air-cuts-crowd-for/157726148/ |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=October 23, 2024 |archive-date=November 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241127220018/https://www.newspapers.com/article/tri-city-herald-cool-air-cuts-crowd-for/157726148/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Among the first additions to the new city was an expanded public library, which had been built by General Electric out of a [[Quonset hut]].<ref>{{cite news |date=December 13, 1958 |title=Richland Gets Quonset Hut Library Site |page=3 |work=Spokane Daily Chronicle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/spokane-chronicle-richland-gets-quonset/157726095/ |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=October 23, 2024 }}</ref> As part of the transition, large areas of undeveloped land became city property. Richland's financial dependency on the federal Hanford facility changed little at this time because Hanford's mission as a weapons materials production site continued during the Cold War years.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}