unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
, United States. It is located on the north bank of the
Siuslaw River
The Siuslaw River ( ) is a river, about long, that flows to the Pacific Ocean coast of Oregon in the United States. It drains an area of about in the Central Oregon Coast Range southwest of the Willamette Valley and north of the watershed o ...
on
Oregon Route 126
Oregon OR 126 (OR 126) is a state highway that connects coastal, western, and central parts of the U.S. state of Oregon. A short freeway section of OR 126 in Eugene and Springfield is concurrent with Interstate 105 (I-105).
Rou ...
Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
.
Cushman was a station on the
Coos Bay
Coos Bay (Hanis language, Coos language: Atsixiis or Hanisich) is an estuary where the Coos River enters the Pacific Ocean, the estuary is approximately 12 miles long and up to two miles wide. It is the largest estuary completely within Oregon sta ...
Branch of the
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...
(today the Coos Bay Rail Link), named for local residents C. C. and I. B. Cushman. It was a mile east of the community of
Acme
Acme is Ancient Greek (ἀκμή; English transliteration: ''akmē'') for "the peak", "zenith" or "prime". It may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and games
* ''Acme'' (album), an album by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
* Acme and Septimius, a fic ...
, but the railroad already had a station named Acme, so the name "Cushman" was chosen instead. The post office was moved from Acme in 1916 and renamed to match the station; it closed in 1961.
Cushman has a historic store that was built in 1889 and expanded in 1925, and there is a swing span railroad bridge across the river there. The bridge opened to allow ocean-going
barge
A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...
s to reach a now-closed
sawmill
A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, 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 ...
in Mapleton. In 1940, Cushman had a population of 145 and a full-service port. At that time the hills above the community produced Port Orford-cedar, a large evergreen coniferous tree native to the region, but by 1990, this resource was depleted and the port no longer served ocean-going vessels.
Oregon Department of Transportation
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is a department of the state government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for systems of transportation. It was first established in 1969. It had been preceded by the Oregon State Highway De ...