Bethel is an

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 ...

in Polk County,

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 The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It sits at the base of the

Eola Hills The Eola Hills are a range of hills northwest of Salem, Oregon, United States. They stretch from the community of Eola about north to Yamhill County. They are divided from the Salem Hills by the Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) ...

in Plum Valley. Bethel is considered a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

as the only remaining structure is a school, now serving as a church. The locale was named by the Rev. Glen O. Burnett for a

Church of Christ Church of Christ may refer to: Church groups * Christianity, the Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ * Christian Church, an ecclesiological term used by denominations to describe the true body of Christia ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

where he had served as pastor.

Bethel Bethel (, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; ; ) was an ancient Israelite city and sacred space that is frequently mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Bet ...

is a common name for churches as it is a

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

word that means "house of god". After traveling with his family on the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in North America that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail crossed what ...

, Burnett settled on a Donation Land Claim in 1846. Burnett later rode circuit to the surrounding area, preaching in nearby communities, including Rickreall.

History

Another settler, Dr. Nathaniel Hudson, came to the area in 1851 and founded a school, Bethel Academy, in 1852. Dr. Hudson moved to a new land claim in the

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

area in 1854 and the academy closed. In 1855 a new school named Bethel Institute was organized, and in 1856, the

Oregon Territorial Legislature Oregon's Territorial Legislature was a bicameral legislative body created by the United States Congress in 1848 as the legislative branch of the government of the Oregon Territory. The upper chamber Council and lower chamber House of Represent ...

officially chartered the institute as one of the earliest colleges in the state, which was later renamed Bethel College. Pioneer

Jesse Applegate Jesse Applegate (July 5, 1811 – April 22, 1888) was an American pioneer who led a large group of settlers along the Oregon Trail to the Oregon Country. He was an influential member of the early government of Oregon, and helped establish the ...

, who was a friend of Burnett's from Missouri and who traveled in the same

wagon train ''Wagon Train'' is an American Western television series that aired for eight seasons, first on the NBC television network (1957–1962) and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and reached the top of the ...

, was on the college's board of trustees. Bethel College had financial problems and in 1861 it merged with another

Disciples of Christ The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...

institution: Monmouth College. Following a series of further mergers and name changes, Monmouth College became known as

Western Oregon University Western Oregon University (WOU) is a public university in Monmouth, Oregon, United States. It was originally established in 1856 by Disciples of Christ pioneers as Monmouth University. Subsequent names included Oregon State Normal School, Oreg ...

. The college building in Bethel was eventually dismantled. The first store in Bethel was built in 1855, and the post office followed in 1865. At one time the town had a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

shop, carpentry shop, and a wagon shop. Bethel post office ran from 1865 to 1880. The town was located on the wagon road that went between Amity and

Monmouth Monmouth ( or ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8 ...

, but when a new

narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter cur ...

line was built in the area, through Amity, Dallas and

Independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

, it bypassed Bethel and instead was routed through McCoy, a decision which contributed to Bethel's decline. In October 2013, the school's former auditorium, renovated two months earlier to become the Eola Hills Charter School within the

Amity School District Amity School District 4J is a rural public school district located in Yamhill County, Oregon Yamhill County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 107,722. The county seat is McM ...

, burned down. The church building was not damaged.

Agriculture and viticulture

Today, the area is part of the

Eola-Amity Hills AVA The Eola-Amity Hills AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in Polk County, Oregon, Polk and Yamhill County, Oregon, Yamhill Counties, Oregon. It is entirely within the Willamette Valley AVA, and stretches from the city of Amity, Oregon, Ami ...

with many wineries and vineyards, including Bethel Heights Vineyard which was named after the area.John Winthrop Haeger ''Pacific Pinot Noir'' pg 51-53 University of California Press, Berkeley, CA 2008

Notable people

* Ernest Robert Sears (1910–1991) plant geneticist, was born in Bethel

Gallery

The Plum Valley area around Bethel. Image:Wvatbethel1.jpg Image:Wvatbethel2.jpg

References

External links

Historic images of Bethel
from Salem Public Library
Bethel Cemetery
{{Authority control Churches of Christ Ghost towns in Oregon Populated places established in 1846 Unincorporated communities in Polk County, Oregon 1865 establishments in Oregon Populated places established in 1865 Unincorporated communities in Oregon