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Oregon State...
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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. |
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Tillamook County, Oregon
Tillamook County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
County Seat: Tillamook
Year Organized: 1853
Square Miles: 1,102 |
Court House: 201 Laurel Avenue
County Courthouse
Tillamook, OR 97141-2311
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Etymology - Origin of County Name
The county was named after the Tillamook Indians who occupied
the areas around the Tillamook and Nehalem Bays.
Demographics:
County QuickFacts:
Census Bureau Quick Facts
History
Tillamook County, the twelfth county
in Oregon to be organized, was established on December 15, 1853, when the
Territorial Legislature approved an act to create the new county out of an area
previously included in Clatsop, Yamhill and Polk Counties. The county was named
after the Tillamook Indians who occupied the areas around the Tillamook and
Nehalem Bays.
Tillamook County is located in the northwestern portion of the state and is
bordered by Clatsop County on the north, Washington and Yamhill Counties on the
east, Polk and Lincoln Counties on the south, and by the Pacific Ocean on the
west. Boundary changes were enacted with Clatsop County (1855, 1870, and 1893),
Lincoln County (1893), Washington County (1893, 1898), and Yamhill County
(1887). The area of Tillamook County is 1,125 square miles. The 2000 population
of 24,262 represented an increase of 12.48% since 1990.
During the first ten years following the organization of the county, the county
court met at the homes of its members. From 1865 to 1875 court sessions were
held in various schoolhouses in the district, the exact place being determined
by the incumbent county judge. In 1866 the town of Lincoln was renamed Tillamook
in order to stay consistent with the post office's name of Tillamook. An
election in 1873 chose Tillamook as the county seat. In 1875 the county rented
an office in the general store to house government. In 1889 a courthouse was
built but was destroyed by fire in 1903. Only the county clerk's vault and its
stored records were saved. A new courthouse was built at the same site in 1905
and replaced again in 1933.
County government offices that were already in place upon statehood were the
three county commissioners (including the county judge), a probate judge,
sheriff, clerk, treasurer, assessor, school superintendent, and coroner.
Subsequent officers and/or boards were established as follows: surveyor (1860);
stock inspector (1895); school district boundary board (1899); veterinarian
(1910); health officer (1912); fair board (1913); agricultural agent (1915);
dairy herd inspector (1917); dog control districts (1919); and an engineer
(1925).
The major physical features of Tillamook County consist of the rocky and
irregular coastline that forms the county's western boundary, stretches of
coastal lowlands, and heavily timbered interior parts, which comprise the main
span and several spurs of the Coast Range. Principal industries are agriculture,
lumber, fishing, and recreation. Dairy farms dominate the county's fertile
valleys providing milk for the well-known Tillamook cheese. Logging and
lumbering are becoming a significant economic force due to the reforestation of
most of the "Tillamook Burn" area. With seventy-five miles of coastline, four
bays, and nine rivers, recreational and tourist facilities are numerous. The
Tillamook airbase for blimps was commissioned on December 1, 1942, with the name
US Naval Air Station. It was closed after World War II. Tillamook and Yamhill
counties also hosted the Mt. Hebo Air Force Station, which played an important
part in air defense during the Cold War, from 1956 to 1980.
Neighboring Counties:
Cities and Towns:
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- Bay City |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Garibaldi |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Manzanita |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Nehalem |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Rockaway Beach |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Tillamook
(County
Seat) |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Wheeler |
city |
Incorporated Area |
County Resources:
Enter County Resources and Information Here
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County Resource Guide
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The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic
features of our 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." |
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