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Silverton is a city in
Marion County, Oregon Marion County is one of the Oregon counties, 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. The population was 345,920 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of counties in Oregon, 5th most populous county in Oregon. The ...
, United States. The city is situated along the 45th parallel about northeast of Salem, in the eastern margins of the broad alluvial plain of 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 ...
. The city is named after Silver Creek, which flows through the town from Silver Falls into the Pudding River, and thence into 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 ...
. The community of Milford was founded in 1846 with a sawmill, store and several other buildings two miles upstream from the present location of Silverton. In about 1853 a second sawmill was built on Silver Creek near where the Silverton city hall now stands. In 1854 the town of Silverton was platted and registered with Marion County. Human habitation of the Silverton area extends back approximately 6,000 years before the present. In historical times, the region was dominated by the
Kalapuya The Kalapuya are a Native American people, which had eight independent groups speaking three mutually intelligible dialects. The Kalapuya tribes' traditional homelands were the Willamette Valley of present-day western Oregon in the United Sta ...
and Molala peoples, whose seasonal burns of the area made it plow-ready and attractive to early 19th century Euro-American settlers. Farming was Silverton's first major industry, and has been a dominant land-use activity in and around Silverton since the mid-19th century. Silverton is part of the
Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area The Salem metropolitan statistical area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is a metropolitan statistical area consisting of two counties in western Oregon, Marion and Polk. The principal city is Salem, the state capital, which has a ...
, and the population core of the Silver Falls School District. The population was 10,484 at the time of the 2020 census.


Geography

Silverton is situated on the eastern edge of 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 ...
, a fertile
alluvial plain An alluvial plain is a plain (an essentially flat landform) created by the deposition of sediment over a long period by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms. A ''floodplain'' is part of the process, bei ...
which stretches from the western foothills of the
Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington (state), Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as m ...
on the east, known as the Waldo Hills, to the eastern foothills of the
Oregon Coast Range The Oregon Coast Range, often called simply the Coast Range and sometimes the Pacific Coast Range, is a mountain range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges Physiographic regions of the world, physiographic region, in the United States, U.S. state of Or ...
on the west. Silverton lies on either side of Silver Creek, a tributary of the Pudding River, which joins the
Molalla River The Molalla River is a tributary of the Willamette River in the northwestern part of Oregon in the United States. Flowing northwest from the Cascade Range through Table Rock Wilderness, it passes the city of Molalla before entering the larger ...
before emptying into the northward-flowing
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 ...
. Abiqua Creek also empties into the Pudding River; it flows across the eastern valley north of Silverton, further draining the land around the city. Silverton's elevation is between above mean sea level with the steep-sided, heavily-wooded Waldo Hills to the south rising an additional . The agricultural richness of the environs is due to massive and repeated floods from prehistoric
Lake Missoula Lake Missoula was a prehistoric proglacial lake in western Montana that existed periodically at the end of the last ice age between 15,000 and 13,000 years ago. The lake measured about and contained about of water, half the volume of Lake Mi ...
in western
Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...
. Beginning approximately 13,000 years before the present, repeated flooding from Lake Missoula scoured eastern
Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...
and Oregon, carved out the
Columbia River Gorge The Columbia River Gorge is a canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Up to deep, the canyon stretches for over as the river winds westward through the Cascade Range, forming the boundary between the state ...
, and periodically swept down the
Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...
; when floodwaters met ice jams in southwest Washington, the backed-up water spilled over and filled the entire Willamette Valley to a depth of above current sea level,John Elliott Allen,
Marjorie Burns Marjorie Jean Burns is a scholar of English literature, best known for her studies of J. R. R. Tolkien. Biography Marjorie Jean Burns was born in 1940. She gained her PhD at the University of California, Berkeley. She is an emeritus professor ...
, Sam C. Sargent, ''Cataclysms on the Columbia: A Layman's Guide to the Features Produced by the Catastrophic Bretz Flood in the Pacific Northwest'', Timber Press (Portland, OR 1986), ASIN B003XPEPX2, pp 175–189
creating a body of water known as Lake Allison. The gradual receding of Lake Allison's waters left layered sedimentary volcanic and glacial soils to a height of about above current sea level throughout the Tualatin, Yamhill and Willamette Valleys. Until the mid-19th century, the Silverton area was a broad, open grassland with small stands of Oregon white oak, ponderosa pine and Douglas fir. Stands of Oregon white oak, red alder, big leaf maple, and black cottonwood lined streams and river banks. While these tree species are extant today, widespread farming in the Willamette Valley between 1850 and 1870 altered the land through the discontinuation of widespread seasonal burning in the valley plains previously employed by the
Kalapuya The Kalapuya are a Native American people, which had eight independent groups speaking three mutually intelligible dialects. The Kalapuya tribes' traditional homelands were the Willamette Valley of present-day western Oregon in the United Sta ...
people. Large stands of Douglas fir and western red cedar, mixed with Oregon white oak, remain in the Silverton area, especially on eastern ridge tops and on the slopes of the Waldo Hills to the south. Due to decades of intensive timber extraction, mature second- and third-growth trees comprise existing evergreen stands. According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.


Climate

This region experiences warm (with occasional hot spells) and dry summers, but 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, Silverton has a
warm-summer Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...
, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps. The climate is relatively mild, considering Silverton's northern latitude, and temperature fluctuations are generally small. Precipitation, primarily in the form of fall and winter rain, ranges between annually. Silverton's climate and its soil have made the area well suited for a variety of crops and for livestock grazing.


Demographics


2010 census

As of the
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2010, there were 9,222 people, 3,452 households, and 2,442 families residing in Silverton. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were 3,477 housing units, 18.1% of which were housing units in multi-unit structures. The homeownership rate was 64.3% and the median value of owner-occupied housing units was $229,700. The racial makeup of the city was 84.1%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 12.7%
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race, 1.7% from other races, 1.0% Asian, 0.7% Native American, 0.2%
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, and 0.1%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
. Of the 3,452 households in Silverton, 34.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them. 54% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 12.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.1% had a male householder with no wife present, and 29.3% were non-families. 24.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 25.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.65 and the average family size was 3.15. The median age in Silverton was 35.8 years. 28.4% of residents were under the age of 18; 17.2% were 62 years of age or older. Silverton's gender makeup was 47.6% male and 52.4% female. 91.7% were high school graduates, and 29.1% held bachelor's or higher degrees. The median household income was $51,687. 16.1% of the population lived at or below the poverty level.


2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 7,414 people, 3,452 households, and 2,442 families residing in Silverton. There were 2,865 housing units, and the population density was . Silverton's homeownership rate was 60.7%, while 39.9% of occupied housing units were rented. The median value of owner-occupied housing units was $148,800. The racial makeup of Silverton was 89.4% White, 11.6% Hispanic or Latino of any race, 1.09% Native American, 0.43% Asian, 0.21% African American, and 8.83% other races. The median age in Silverton was 33 (31 for males and 35 for females). 37.7% were under the age of 18, 13.4% were 65 years of age or older, 47% were male and 53% female. Of the population 25 years of age and older, 7.1% possessed a graduate or professional degree, 15.3% held a bachelor's degree, 5.2% held an associate degree, 28% had some college education but no degree, while an additional 28.8% had graduated from high school or its equivalent but had not received any college education. 15.6% failed to complete high school. The median salary for a male was $34,707 while the median for a female was $24,479. Major employers in Silverton in 2000 included the Silver Falls School District (400+ employees), Silverton Hospital (402), Champion Homes (200+), Brucepac (100+), and Mallorie's Dairy (90). The median household income was $38,429. 11.7% of Silverton households earned less than $10,000 per year, while 2.5% earned $150,000 or more. About 10.4% of families and 13.0% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 18.7% of those under age 18 and 6.0% of those age 65 or over.


Education

Silverton is the population core of the Silver Falls School District, which, in addition to Silverton, serves nearby Scotts Mills in as well as communities in the surrounding foothills up to
Silver Falls State Park Silver Falls State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Oregon, located near Silverton, Oregon, Silverton, about east-southeast of Salem, Oregon, Salem. It is the largest state park in Oregon with an area of more than , and it includes mo ...
. Currently there are twelve elementary schools in the district, and the campus of Silverton High School on Pine Street, which was completed in 2009. Voters passed a bond levy in 1994 for construction of a new high school to be completed in two phases. The first phase of the new high school was completed in 1997, with a capacity for 500 students. The second phase was not completed until the summer of 2009, after voters passed a new bond levy in November 2006. In autumn 2009, students at the high school's old campus moved into the new campus at 802 Schlador Street. As of October 2014, the School District was seeking proposals from architectural firms for completion of the Middle School Schlador Campus Reconstruction in Silverton. In 2006, Silverton and Silver Falls School District formed a partnership to support, maintain, and operate Silverton's local access cable channel, SCAN-TV. In 2014, Silverton High School's enrolled students numbered 1,196. Of those students, 39% were judged to be economically disadvantaged. 36.9% were entitled to receive a free or reduced-rate lunch. 14% of the student population were disabled, 11% were English language learners. Compared to other similar high schools, Silverton High School students' scholastic achievements rated above average. The racial makeup of the school was 81.7% White, 14.5% Hispanic, 0.9% African-American, 0.6% Native American, 0.5% Asian. 1.9% were Other/Unknown.


History

The first white settlers arrived at Silver Creek in the 1800s. Two settlers, James Smith and John Barger created a sawmill along the creek in 1846. The town was originally known as Milford. In 1854, the town was abandoned and the settlers moved downstream to the current spot of Silverton. The town was first known as Silver Creek but the name was changed a year later. The town expanded and grew and was incorporated in 1885. The town now housed about 229 people. The town continued to grow until now, where it now has over 10,000 people.


Killing of Andrew Hanlon

In June 2008, Silverton came to international attention when an unarmed
Irish citizen The primary law governing nationality of Republic of Ireland, Ireland is the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, which Coming into force, came into force on 17 July 1956. Ireland is a member state of the European Union (EU), and all ...
, Andrew James (AJ) Hanlon, aged 20, was killed by a police officer, Tony Gonzalez, in controversial circumstances.'Family wants answers after US shooting (RTÉ,3 July 2008)
/ref>'Irishman shot dead by US police'
/ref> Gonzalez, who was responding to a reported disturbance of the peace, shot the unarmed Hanlon five times, although Hanlon's sister recalled seeing seven bullets in her brother's body. The death, which Hanlon's sister described as the only shooting in Silverton in the past twenty years, was greeted with shock there as well as in Ireland, particularly when it emerged that Hanlon had been experiencing psychological issues and had most probably gotten lost on his way home to his sister's house in Silverton. Complaints were made by Hanlon's family that it took six hours for the police to inform his sister of her brother's death, despite her living only a mile away, and questions were asked why the police had not used a tazer, which was available to them. Requests for transparency were greeted by obfuscation and secrecy and claims that, in Andrew Hanlon's mother's words, the city's establishment "had closed ranks on" the Hanlon family to protect Gonzalez. while the Consulate in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
of the
Government of Ireland The Government of Ireland () is the executive (government), executive authority of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, headed by the , the head of government. The government – also known as the cabinet (government), cabinet – is composed of Mini ...
registered concern over the killing. Protests outside Silverton City Hall were also ignored. On 24 July 2008, a Marion County grand jury found that because Gonzalez had testified that he believed that Andrew James Hanlon was armed, his killing was justified. Eight days later, on August 1, 2008, and just over a month after Andrew was killed on the 30th of June, Gonzalez resigned from Silverton's police department. He had been arrested in July and charged with child abuse. On December 7, 2008, Gonzalez was sentenced to 6 years and 3 months imprisonment when he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a teenage girl.


Points of interest

* Silverton is the gateway to
Silver Falls State Park Silver Falls State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Oregon, located near Silverton, Oregon, Silverton, about east-southeast of Salem, Oregon, Salem. It is the largest state park in Oregon with an area of more than , and it includes mo ...
, Oregon's largest state park. Town Square Park in downtown is a small park with a footbridge crossing Silverton Creek and a war memorial. * The Oregon Garden, an botanical park, is in Silverton. * Shrine of Bobbie the Wonder Dog replica of Bobbie and his 1920s era doghouse * Gordon House, located on the grounds of Silverton's Oregon Garden, is the only house in the Pacific Northwest designed by
Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...
which is open to the public. Gordon House was one of the last of Lloyd Wright's famed Usonian designs. * Silverton has a number of outsized murals, including
Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...
's ''The Four Freedoms'' originally painted on the side of a building located at 402 Main Street in Silverton, and visible from Second Street In 2015, the original building was razed and, after abandoning hopes to salvage them, the murals were destroyed during demolition. However, community efforts replaced them with a new replica at 990 N. First St. * Every August, the Homer Davenport Community Festival celebrates Silverton's most famous citizen—writer, political cartoonist, and Arabian horse breeder Homer Davenport (1867–1912)—with exhibits, entertainment, an arts and crafts fair, rides, races, contests, a cartooning competition, a party, and a parade. * The Palace Theater in Silverton's Commercial Historic District is a movie theater constructed in the early 1900s. Originally called the Opera House, it has been showing motion pictures to the public since at least 1909. The Palace Theater has survived two fires, one in 1935 that destroyed a large portion of downtown, and the other in April 2012. The 2012 fire was mostly limited to the concession area, although the smoke damage was extensive and caused at least one other business to temporarily close. The theater was later co-owned by the former mayor, Stu Rasmussen, the first openly transgender mayor in the United States.


Notable people

* Greg Craven, climate change activist who produced a viral video on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
* Homer Davenport, political cartoonist * Debi Farr, member of the Oregon legislature * Scott Gragg, NFL tackle * Bill Grier, college basketball coach, formerly head coach at
University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in San Diego, California, United States. Chartered in 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University ...
* Donald Pettit, astronaut * Stu Rasmussen, first openly
transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...
mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
in the United States


Media

*'' The Appeal'' * The first bank robbery and chase scene in the movie ''
Bandits Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and murder, e ...
'' was filmed in Silverton.


References

;Notes ;Sources * *


External links


Entry for Silverton
in the ''
Oregon Blue Book The ''Oregon Blue Book'' is the official directory and fact book for the U.S. state of Oregon prepared by the Oregon Secretary of State and published by the Office of the Secretary's Archives Division. The ''Blue Book'' comes in both print and o ...
''
Silverton Chamber of Commerce
{{authority control 1854 establishments in Oregon Territory Cities in Marion County, Oregon Cities in Oregon Populated places established in 1854 Salem, Oregon metropolitan area