- On December 18, 1945, residents of College Place, located immediately southwest of Walla Walla, vote 193 to 145 to become an incorporated city. Walter Bunch attracts the votes of all but five of those casting ballots for mayor. At the time of incorporation, a survey finds the city to have a population of 1,851. By 2013, the population will grow to 8,875, with the town’s economy centered primarily, as it was at the turn of the century, on the presence of Walla Walla University.