Dolph (also known as Dolph Junction) 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 Tillamook 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, near the Yamhill County line. It lies at the junction of

Oregon Route 22 Oregon Route 22 is an Oregon state highway that runs between the Oregon Coast community of Hebo, Oregon, Hebo, to a junction with U.S. Route 20 in Oregon, U.S. Route 20 near Santiam Pass in the Cascade Mountains. OR 22 traverses several hi ...

and Oregon Route 130 between Grande Ronde and

Hebo Hebo (), also known as Bingyi (), is the god of the Yellow River (''Huang He''). The Yellow River is the main river of northern China, one of the world's major rivers and a river of great cultural importance in China. This is reflected in Chinese ...

, on the Little Nestucca River. It is within the

Siuslaw National Forest The Siuslaw National Forest ( ) is a national forest in western Oregon in the United States. Established in 1908, the Siuslaw is made up of a wide variety of ecosystems, ranging from coastal forests to sand dunes. Geography The Siuslaw Nat ...

in the

Northern Oregon Coast Range The Northern Oregon Coast Range is the northern section of the Oregon Coast Range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, located in the northwest portion of the state of Oregon, United States. This section of the mountain range, part o ...

. Dolph was named for U.S. Senator Joseph N. Dolph. The original site of the community was at a

toll gate Toll Gate or Tollgate may refer to: * Toll gate, a barrier across a toll road or toll bridge that is lifted when the toll is paid Entertainment * Tollgate (Hale single), "Tollgate" (Hale single) * ''The Toll-Gate'', a 1954 novel by Georgette Heye ...

and traveler's rest stop at the summit of the

stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

road from the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, the ...

to the

Oregon Coast The Oregon Coast is a coastal region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Oregon Coast Range to the east, and stretches approximately from the California state border in the south to the Columbia ...

on the Tillamook-Yamhill county line. The county line was later moved west, so that the old town was in Yamhill County. The Dolph Toll Road, built by Jordan Fuqua between 1878 and 1882, went from Grand Ronde to Woods. Dolph post office opened there in 1886, and a school was started in 1889. At one time the community at the summit also had a hotel, a store, a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

, a barrel and stave factory, a

livery stable A livery yard, livery stable or boarding stable, is a stable where horse owners pay a weekly or monthly fee to keep their horses. A livery or boarding yard is not usually a riding school and the horses are not normally for hire (unless on wor ...

, a

blacksmith shop 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 ...

, and a campground. About a half mile from the current site of Dolph at the junction of OR 22 and OR 130, there was another toll gate and the blacksmith shop of George Baxter, who maintained the road that followed the Little Nestucca River. Baxter also was the proprietor of a sulphur springs resort there. In 1916–1917, a new public road was built from the Little Nestucca road over Sourgrass Summit to join the old road at the summit at Dolph. Because the new route to the coast was free, there was no longer a need to collect tolls and the town no longer had a reason to exist. As a result, the school was moved to west of OR 22 near Baxter's hot springs resort. The post office closed in 1921. Dolph school closed in 1930 when it was combined with the Castle Rock school to form Hebo School District. By the 1970s, nothing remained at the old town site but an apple orchard and a small cemetery on a hilltop a half a mile away. Today there is also nothing left at the new town site at the junction, although as of 1940, there was still a hot springs resort near there. Photos show a store and hotel building at the highway junction as recently as the mid-1960s; it is now demolished.

Polk County

There is also a historic locale named Dolph in Polk County; it was a station on the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

. The station was also known as "Brown".

References

External links

Historic images of Dolph
from Salem Public Library *

from the '' Headlight Herald''; the first three images are of Dolph *Location of Dolph in Polk County: {{authority control Historic American Engineering Record in Oregon Unincorporated communities in Tillamook County, Oregon Spa towns in Oregon 1886 establishments in Oregon Populated places established in 1886 Unincorporated communities in Oregon