A bustling town with a small, compact business district. Naches began to grow in 1908 when valley farmers, aided by the Federal Government, started the irrigation system. Two apple-packing plants and a small sawmill, which cut box shooks (a bundle of parts ready to be put together) from yellow pine, were the economic backbone of the town. One of the packing establishments, a million-dollar concern in the 1940s, employed 250 men and women seasonally, and was owned and operated by Horticultural Union Local 21.

The name is from Naches River. Native Americans combined the word Naugh, meaning rough or turbulent with Chez, meaning water, to describe the river.