Dale 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 ...

Grant County Grant County may refer to: Places ;Australia * County of Grant, Victoria ;United States * Grant County, Arkansas * Grant County, Indiana * Grant County, Kansas *Grant County, Kentucky Grant County is a county located in the northern pa ...

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. It is located on U.S. Route 395 within the

Umatilla National Forest The Umatilla National Forest, in the Blue Mountains (Oregon), Blue Mountains of northeast Oregon and southeast Washington (U.S. state), Washington, covers an area of 1.4 million acres (5,700 km2). In descending order of land area the forest ...

about 17 miles south of Ukiah. It is near the Umatilla-Grant County border just south of the

45th parallel north The 45th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 45 degrees north of Earth's equator. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean. The 45th parallel north is often called the halfway point between the ...

. The first post office at this locale was established in 1887 and named Dorman after James W. Dorman, the first postmaster. The name was changed to Dale in 1891. The office may have been moved south from its original location in Umatilla County and it was shown as being in Grant County by 1903. According to the compiler of ''

Oregon Geographic Names ''Oregon Geographic Names'' is a compilation of the origin and meaning of place names in the U.S. state of Oregon, published by the Oregon Historical Society. The book was originally published in 1928. It was compiled and edited by Lewis A. McArt ...

'', who did not think that the local terrain resembled a dale, "The name Dale as applied to this locality may have had a significance other than topographic." Mail for Dale is now handled by the Ukiah post office, ZIP code 97880. In 1940, Dale had a service station and store that still serves the community today. Dale Ranger Station was open by 1911 and closed sometime before 2008.

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Historic images of directional signs to Dale Ranger Station
from Salem Public Library
Historic image of Dale Ranger Station in 1924
from the U.S. Forest Service
Images of Dale
from Flickr Unincorporated communities in Grant County, Oregon 1887 establishments in Oregon Populated places established in 1887 Unincorporated communities in Oregon {{GrantCountyOR-geo-stub

See also

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