HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Vernonia is a city in Columbia County, Oregon, United States. It is located on the Nehalem River, in a valley on the eastern side of the
Northern Oregon Coast Range The Northern Oregon Coast Range is the northern section of the Oregon Coast Range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, located in the northwest portion of the state of Oregon, United States. This section of the mountain range, part ...
that is the heart of one of the most important timber-producing areas of the state. Logging has played a large role in the history of the city. The population was 2,151 at the 2010 census.


History

The community was first settled in 1874 by the Parker and Van Blaricom families. Cousins Judson Weed and Ozias Cherrington, both of Ohio, arrived in 1876. Sometime afterwards, the question of a name for the community came up, and Cherrington suggested the name of his daughter (Vernona) in Ohio, which was adopted. Due to a clerical error during the incorporation process, an "i" was inserted into the name. Cherrington died in a farming accident in 1894, never having seen his daughter since his departure from Ohio. Vernonia started to become more than an isolated farming community on July 10, 1924, when the Oregon-American Lumber Company opened a state-of-the-art
lumber mill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...
, which was supported by a railroad line connecting Vernonia to the rest of the country. Oregon-American merged with
Long-Bell Lumber Company In 1887, Robert A. Long and Victor Bell formed the Long-Bell Lumber Company in Columbus, Kansas. The Long-Bell Lumber Company branched out using balanced vertical integration to control all aspects of lumber from the sawmills to the retail lumber ...
in May 1953, which itself merged with International Paper in November 1957. International Paper judged the mill antiquated, and closed it on December 20, 1957. The city has been severely impacted by floods on multiple occasions. The rains that caused the Willamette Valley Flood of 1996 flooded Vernonia as well; some homes in the floodplain were elevated, and some flooring materials were replaced, mitigating some damage from later flooding.Vernonia residents: Flooding is worse than 1996
,
KATU KATU (channel 2) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside La Grande–licensed Univision affiliate KUNP (channel 16). Both stations share studios on N ...
In 2007, heavy storms that impacted the Pacific Northwest washed out roads and destroyed homes, cars, and communications infrastructure. Despite preparations in 1996, in some parts of town flood water reached above the 100 year base flood elevation. In the wake of the 2007 flood, Vernonia School District voters approved a $13 million bond in 2009 to build a new K-12 school in Vernonia. The new school opened in fall 2012.


Community events

The Friendship Jamboree is an annual event inaugurated in 1957 and currently held on the first full weekend of August.


Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.


Climate

This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above . According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Vernonia has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.


Demographics


2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 2,151 people, 822 households, and 571 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 962 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 94.1% White, 0.3%
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslav ...
, 1.3% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.2%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of Oce ...
, 0.8% from other races, and 2.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.2% of the population. There were 822 households, of which 35.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.6% were married couples living together, 11.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.8% had a male householder with no wife present, and 30.5% were non-families. 25.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.09. The median age in the city was 38.2 years. 26.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.3% were from 25 to 44; 29.2% were from 45 to 64; and 10.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 51.0% male and 49.0% female.


2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,228 people, 789 households, and 583 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,444.2 people per square mile (558.6/km). There were 880 housing units at an average density of 570.4 per square mile (220.6/km). The racial makeup of the city was 95.38% White, 0.18% African American, 1.39% Native American, 0.49% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 0.54% from other races, and 1.93% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.24% of the population. 19.6% were of
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
, 14.7% English, 9.5%
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
, 8.6%
Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
and 5.3%
Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
ancestry according to
Census 2000 The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 cen ...
. There were 789 households, out of which 41.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.4% were married couples living together, 10.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.0% were non-families. 20.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.82 and the average family size was 3.29. In the city, the population was spread out, with 34.0% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 30.8% from 25 to 44, 18.9% from 45 to 64, and 9.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.3 males. The median income for a household in the city was $41,181, and the median income for a family was $48,563. Males had a median income of $37,447 versus $24,219 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,647. About 8.6% of families and 9.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.0% of those under age 18 and 6.4% of those age 65 or over.


Transportation

Oregon Route 47 Oregon Route 47 is an Oregon state highway that runs between the Willamette Valley, near McMinnville, and the city of Clatskanie, along the Columbia River in the northwest part of the state. OR 47 traverses several highways of the Oregon ...
is the only major highway serving Vernonia, providing access from the lower
Columbia River The Columbia River ( Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, ...
and Route 30 to the north, and from Oregon Highway 26 to the south. The Banks–Vernonia State Trail, a rails-to-trails conversion featuring a raised path for bicyclists, pedestrians, and horseback riders, roughly parallels Route 47 to the south of Vernonia. The Crown Zellerbach trail is a conversion of old logging roads (themselves a conversion from old railroad way) to a trail for mountain biking, hiking, and horseback riding. This trail extends over Vernonia to Scappoose.


Public transit

Very limited public transit service provided by the Columbia County Rider (or CC Rider), a service of the county's Transit Division, connects Vernonia with the Willow Creek MAX light rail station and bus transit center of TriMet in Hillsboro. Called the Nehalem Valley Fixed-Route Service, the bus route was introduced on July 1, 2009, and currently operates on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, twice per day (as one round trip in each rush hour).


Airport

Vernonia Municipal Airport (FAA: 05S) is a city-owned, public-use airport located two nautical miles (3.7 km) west of the
central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the " city ...
of Vernonia.


In popular culture

The December 2007 flooding in Vernonia was featured in the first season of the television show ''
Ax Men ''Ax Men'' is an American reality television series that premiered on March 9, 2008 on History. The program follows the work of several logging crews in the second-growth forests of Northwestern Oregon, Washington and Montana and the rivers o ...
''. Vernonia has also appeared in several films, including '' Ring of Fire'' (1961), ''The Vernonia Incident'' (1989), '' Thumbsucker'' (2005), '' Tillamook Treasure'' (2006),The Tillamook Treasure (2006)
/ref> and '' Twilight'' (2008).


See also

* Vernonia High School


References


External links


Entry for Vernonia
in the ''
Oregon Blue Book The ''Oregon Blue Book'' is the official directory and fact book for the U.S. state of Oregon prepared by the Oregon Secretary of State and published by the Office of the Secretary's Archives Division. The ''Blue Book'' comes in both print and o ...
'' *
Vernonia history from VanNatta Forestry
{{authority control Cities in Oregon Cities in Columbia County, Oregon Logging communities in the United States 1874 establishments in Oregon Populated places established in 1874