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Oregon Counties

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Oregon Counties

There are 36 counties in the state of Oregon. The Oregon Constitution does not explicitly provide for county seats.

Benton County, Oregon

Benton County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Corvallis
Year Organized: 1847
Square Miles: 676

Court House:

120 NW 4th Street
County Courthouse
Corvallis, OR 97330-0000

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named in honor of Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, who was instrumental in promoting the development of Oregon Country.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Benton County was established by the Provisional Legislature in 1847. It was named in honor of Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, who was instrumental in promoting the development of Oregon Country. Carved from Polk County, Benton County stretched from the Polk County boundary south to the California border and from the Pacific Ocean east to the Willamette River. Umpqua, Lane, Douglas, Jackson, Lincoln, Josephine, Curry, and Coos Counties were created from portions of the original Benton County. Today Benton County occupies 679 square miles of the central Willamette Valley and is bordered on the east by the Willamette River and Linn County, on the west by the summit of the Coast Range and Lincoln County, on the north by Polk County, and on the south by Lane County.

The city of Marysville, later renamed Corvallis, became the county seat in 1851. The first county courthouse was erected in 1854. The second courthouse, built in 1889, is the oldest in Oregon that is still used for its original purpose. It was extensively renovated in 1976 to restore and preserve the historic character of the building. Nearby buildings house those offices not located in the courthouse.

At the time of its creation, Benton County government consisted of two or more justices of the peace acting as county commissioners; a judicial system including circuit, probate, and justice courts; clerks for each court; law enforcement offices of sheriff and coroner; and the tax and finance offices of the assessor, tax collector, and treasurer. In 1972 a home rule charter was passed in Benton County and the governing body of the county became a three-member board of commissioners.

Benton County was created out of land originally inhabited by the Klickitat Indians. All Indian claims to land within Benton County were ceded in the Treaty of Dayton in 1855. In 1862 Corvallis became the site of the Oregon State Agricultural College, known today as Oregon State University. Along with the university, agriculture, lumber, and wood products form the economic base of the county. The 2000 population of 78,153 marked a 10.37% increase over the 1990 population.

Neighboring Counties:

Insert Counties Here

Cities and Towns:

- Adair Village	city	Incorporated Area
- Corvallis (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Monroe	city	Incorporated Area
- Philomath	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."