The site of Kettle Falls, the waterfall, was once one of the most important fishing and gathering places for Native Americans in the Northwest, who congregated there annually to fish for salmon headed upstream to spawn. The fishery continued, though mitigated substantially by overfishing downstream, until the completion of Grand Coulee Dam in 1941 blocked the path upstream for the salmon.
When the Grand Coulee Dam was built, the lake formed behind it, Roosevelt Lake, flooded many towns upstream in the Columbia River Valley in 1940, the town of Kettle Falls being one. So, the citizens of Kettle Falls moved much of their town to Meyers Falls, just to the east on higher ground. Shortly thereafter, as a memorial to the underwater town of Kettle Falls, Meyers Falls changed its name to Kettle Falls.
The first non-native to visit the area was Canadian explorer and mapmaker David Thompson (1770-1857), who arrived at the falls on June 19, 1811. The next to visit the area were more Canadians, in the form of fur traders of the Hudson's Bay Company, who built a trading post in about 1825, naming it Fort Colville after the company's London governor, Andrew Colvile. Fort Colvile remained in operation until 1871, though the Hudson's Bay Company vacated the area in about 1854. The next visitors were Jesuit priests, in the early 1840s, who built St. Paul's Mission Church in 1846. Now restored, this mission still stands at its original location.
Settlement had begin by this time and Kettle Falls, whose population is today advertised as being "1640 friendly people and one
grouch", was incorporated in 1891. It became a supply and shipment centre for mining in the area, then later, beginning in 1874, a fledgling fruit industry was begun, which remained a major industry in the area until the 1930s or 40s.
Kettle Falls, at that time Meyers Falls, is the site of the longest continually used water power source in Washington, on the Colville River which flows past at the south end of the town. First used to power a Hudson's Bay Company grist mill, it was later harnessed to supply electricity locally. Rebuilt and added to, the small hydro station on the river remains in use to this day.
Coordinates given are at City Hall.