The town of Willamette, Oregon was incorporated on October 5, 1908, and is located directly West across the

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...

from

Oregon City, Oregon ) , image_skyline = McLoughlin House.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = The McLoughlin House, est. 1845 , image_flag = , image_seal = Oregon City seal.png , image_map ...

and upstream from the

Willamette Falls The Willamette Falls is a natural waterfall on the Willamette River between Oregon City and West Linn, Oregon, in the United States. It is the largest waterfall in the Northwestern United States by volume, and the seventeenth widest in the wor ...

. The area was first called Willamette Falls, but later shortened to Willamette. The first mayor of Willamette was James Downey. The town consisted of approximately 300 residents. The main business within the town limits was the Capen Shoe Company Factory, located at 7th Avenue (now known as Willamette Falls Drive) and 12th Street. Each residence had electricity, running water and a sewage disposal system. Willamette had its own electric trolley service from the Main Street into town to the Willamette Falls Railroad station located at the bridge to Oregon City. Some residents used the trolley service to travel to work at the paper mills on the west side of the

and in Oregon City.

Typhoid outbreak

In 1910 and 1911, the town of Willamette was struck by a

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

outbreak, first believed to be caused by the spring floods of the Willamette River which poisoned the town well at the bottom of 12th Street. Newspaper reports of the time, state that 10% of the town (35 people) were stricken with typhoid fever and at least one died. The source of the second outbreak was in question since the well had tested clean by state health officials.

Paperwork anomaly

In 1912, the former mayor James Downey, sued the town of Willamette when a property was enforced. Downey claimed that Willamette had not filed the proper paperwork of incorporation according to Oregon law and therefore was unable to collect a tax. A judge agreed since county officials had never verified the 1908 vote of incorporation. A new vote was held in 1913, and the proper paperwork was filed.

Annexation

In 1913, the town of Willamette made two unsuccessful attempts to annex its neighboring communities to the north, Sunset, Windsor, West Oregon City, and Bolton. In August 1913, these communities then merged to form the current city of

West Linn West Linn is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. A southern suburb within the Portland metropolitan area, West Linn developed on the site of the former Linn City, which was named after U.S. Senator Lewis F. Linn of Ste. Genevie ...

. In 1917, the much larger neighbor, West Linn, annexed Willamette into its boundary allowing Willamette access to West Linn's clean water from the nearby

Clackamas River The Clackamas River is an approximately tributary of the Willamette River in northwestern Oregon, in the United States. Draining an area of about , the Clackamas flows through mostly forested and rugged mountainous terrain in its upper reaches, a ...

, secured through an arrangement with Oregon City. The original area of Willamette was designated as a

National Register Historic District The U.S. National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) classifies its listings by various types of properties. Listed properties generally fall into one of five categories, though there are special considerations for other types of properties whi ...

in 2009, under the name of "Willamette Falls." The area encompasses the local historic district of Willamette, established by West Linn in the 1970s.

References

{{authority control 1908 establishments in Oregon Populated places established in 1908 West Linn, Oregon Neighborhoods in Oregon Former cities in Oregon 1917 disestablishments in Oregon