Gardiner 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 ...
and
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
in
Douglas County, Oregon,
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 ...
, across the
Umpqua River from
Reedsport. It is located on
U.S. Route 101. As of the
2010 census, it had a population of 248.
Gardiner is named for a
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
merchant whose ship, the ''Bostonian'', shipwrecked at the mouth of the Umpqua on October 1, 1850.
Gardiner was seeking to trade along the river, and most of his goods were saved from the ship and moved to the location that came to be the town of Gardiner.
In 1851, the site became the headquarters of the Umpqua customs district, and a post office named "Gardiners City" was established the same year.
The name of the post office changed to "Gardiner City" and eventually to its current name.
The Gardiner Historic District, which encompasses nearly all of Gardiner,
[.] has been listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
since 1994.
[.] Several steamboats were constructed at Gardiner for trade up the Umpqua River.
A plywood plant opened in Gardiner in 1954, joining the lumber mill (or sawmill) that had been in the town for many years.
Gardiner was formerly the site of the first
International Paper mill on the
West Coast.
The
paper mill operated from 1963 until 1999, and was one of the largest employers on the southern
Oregon Coast.
The mill buildings were
demolished in 2006.
A railroad, the Longview, Portland & Northern (LP&N), served the IP mill until it closed. The railroad runs from East Gardiner Junction to the old plant site.
Climate
This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above . According to the Köppen Climate Classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
system, Gardiner has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.Climate Summary for Gardiner, Oregon
/ref>
Notable people
* Kathryn Clarke, politician
* Alan L. Hart
* Bill Warren, film historian
Gallery
Remnants of the Gardiner Mill.JPG, Outside the remnants of the International Paper mill in Gardiner, Oregon.
Gardiner Post Office.jpg, USPS Post Office - Gardiner, Oregon 97441
Gardiner Cemetery.jpg, The Gardiner cemetery.
See also
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Douglas County, Oregon
* Perkins Lake
* Steamboats of the Oregon Coast
References
External links
''The Gardiner that Was'' by Georgina Durbin
from the Douglas County Historical Society
Historic images of Gardiner
from Salem Public Library
*
{{Authority control
Oregon Coast
Unincorporated communities in Douglas County, Oregon
Census-designated places in Oregon
National Register of Historic Places in Douglas County, Oregon
1851 establishments in Oregon Territory
Census-designated places in Douglas County, Oregon
Unincorporated communities in Oregon
Populated coastal places in Oregon
Populated places established in 1851