Kiryat Ekron was founded in 1948, as Kfar Ekron, on the site of the
Palestinian village of
Aqir, and was named after the biblical
Ekron, a major
Philistine city that is believed to have once existed at nearby
Tel Mikne. After the war, new immigrants from
Yemen and
Bulgaria settled in the remaining houses. In November 1948, two
ma'abarot were established on the village's lands; the Aqir ma'abara, and the
Givat Brenner ma'abara. In 1953, the Aqir ma'abara was officially made part of Kfar Ekron, followed by the Givat Brenner ma'abara in 1955. From 1954 to 1963, Kfar Ekron belonged to the Givat Brenner regional council. In 1963, the name of the town was changed to Kiryat Ekron, and it became an independent local municipality. Attempts to unite Kiryat Ekron with the much larger municipality of Rehovot in 2003 failed after popular protest from residents of the town, as did similar attempts to unite Kiryat Ekron's municipality with that of the town of
Mazkeret Batya due to opposition from the smaller town's residents the same year (
Mazkeret Batya was originally called Ekron; its name was changed in 1887). ==Economy==