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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.

Polk County, Oregon

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

County Seat: Dallas
Year Organized: 1845
Square Miles: 741

Court House:

850 Main Street
County Courthouse
Dallas, OR 97338-3128

Etymology - Origin of County Name

The county was named after President James Knox Polk and originally included the entire southwestern portion of present day Oregon to the California border.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

The Provisional Legislature created Polk County from Yamhill District on December 22, 1845. The county was named after President James Knox Polk and originally included the entire southwestern portion of present day Oregon to the California border. County boundaries were periodically changed to reflect the creation of Benton and Lincoln Counties. Polk County today contains 745 square miles and stretches from the Willamette River on the east to the Coast Range on the west. It is bordered by Yamhill, Lincoln, Benton, and Marion Counties.

The first county seat was a settlement on the north side of Rickreall Creek named Cynthian (also known as Cynthia Ann). In 1852 city officials changed the name to Dallas after Vice President George M. Dallas. By 1856, the lack of an adequate source of drinking water compelled the town to move more than a mile to the south. During the 1880s and 1890s, Dallas withstood efforts to move the county seat to nearby Independence.

Three courthouses have served Polk County. The first was built in Cynthian in 1851 but was dismantled when the town was moved. Soon thereafter the county built a second courthouse in Dallas, but it was destroyed by fire in 1898. Construction of the present courthouse began the same year and was completed in 1900. In 1966 the county completed a three-story annex. Further expansion occurred in 1989 when the Polk County Human Services Department was consolidated in the newly acquired Academy Building.

For over a century, Polk County was governed by a county court. By the early 1960s the county court had ceased to exercise judicial power and was renamed the board of commissioners. The board of commissioners acts as the governing body for the county and is responsible for county administration, management, and policy.

Polk County's 2000 population of 62,380 represented an increase of 25.92% over 1990.

The major industries of the county are agriculture, forest products, manufacturing, and education. Western Oregon University is located in Monmouth.

Neighboring Counties:

Insert Counties Here

Cities and Towns:

- Dallas (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Falls City	city	Incorporated Area
- Independence	city	Incorporated Area
- Monmouth	city	Incorporated Area
- Salem	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."