Warrenton is a small, coastal city in

Clatsop County Clatsop County () is the northernmost county in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 41,072. The county seat is Astoria. The county is named for the Clatsop tribe of Native Americans, who lived along the coas ...

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. Named for D.K. (Daniel Knight) Warren, an early settler, the town is primarily a fishing and logging community. The population was 6,277 according to the 2020 US Census. Warrenton is a less urbanized area close to the Clatsop County seat, Astoria.

History

Prior to the arrival of the first settlers, this land was inhabited by the

Clatsop The Clatsop ( Lower Chinook: ) are a Chinookan-speaking Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. In the early 19th century they inhabited an area of the northwestern coast of present-day Oregon from the mouth of the Co ...

tribe of

Native Americans Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

, whose tribe spanned from the south shore of 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 ...

Tillamook Head Tillamook Head is a high promontory on the Pacific coast of northwest Oregon in the United States. It is located in west-central Clatsop County, approximately 5 mi (8 km) southwest of Seaside. The promontory forms a steep rocky bluff ...

. The county in which Warrenton is located was named after these people, as well as the last encampment that the

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...

established. Today, a replica of

Fort Clatsop Fort Clatsop was the encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the Oregon Country near the mouth of the Columbia River during the winter of 1805–1806. Located along the Lewis and Clark River at the north end of the Clatsop Plains approxi ...

still stands just outside of Warrenton city limits. The first pioneers who settled on the land that would become Warrenton (between 1845 and the early 1850s) were Jeremiah Gerome Tuller, J. W. Wallace, D. E. Pease, Ninian A. Eberman and George Washington Coffenbury. Coffenbury remains a household name in the town, as a local lake in Fort Stevens was named after him. The first settlement within Warrenton city limits was Lexington, which was laid out in 1848, and served as the first

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

for Clatsop County. The name fell out of use for a time, and the area became known as Skipanon – a name that is now preserved by the

Skipanon River The Skipanon River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, on the Pacific coast of northwest Oregon in the United States. It is the last tributary of the Columbia on the Oregon side, draining an area of coastal bottom land borde ...

, which flows through the town. A Lexington post office operated intermittently between 1850 and 1857; a Skipanon post office operated continuously from 1871 to 1903. In 1863, the military battery, Fort Stevens, was built in the Warrenton area near the mouth of the

. Though military activity ceased in 1947, the remains of the fort are preserved as part of Fort Stevens. Very few improvements were made to the land until the early 1870s, when D. K. Warren bought out some of the first settlers. With the help of Chinese labor, Warren reclaimed a large tract of the land by constructing a dike about in length, which was completed in 1878. Warren laid out the town in about 1891, and in the following year built the first schoolhouse, at a cost of $1,100, and gave it to the school district. Warrenton was

platted In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bear ...

in 1889 and incorporated as a city in 1899. Built on

tidal flats Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal ...

, it relied on a system of dikes built by Chinese laborers to keep the

from flooding the town.

Geography

Standing at the northwestern extreme of Oregon, Warrenton is about west of Astoria, across the

Youngs Bay Youngs Bay, or Youngs River Bay, is located in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Oregon. The Youngs River meets the Columbia River at this point, which is situated between Astoria and Warrenton. The bay is named for the Youngs River ...

bridge, which spans over of the Youngs Bay estuary at the mouth of the

. 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. Warrenton has one charter fishing port in Hammond and a major commercial fishing port in downtown Warrenton.

Community

Warrenton is made up of the previously individual communities of Flavel, Fort Stevens, Hammond, Lexington, and Skipanon. The Fort Stevens post office operated at the Fort Stevens military post from 1899 to 1949. Hammond voted to disincorporate in November 1991 and merged with Warrenton on December 5. Hammond was named for lumberman Andrew B. Hammond, who completed the Astoria and Columbia River Railroad. Hammond, originally the site of a Clatsop village called Ne-ahk-stow, has its own ZIP Code of 97121, but is now technically part of Warrenton.

Climate

This region experiences mildly warm and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above . It is typically overcast or rainy due to its proximity to the ocean, but it does have some sunshine. 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, Warrenton 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.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020

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 ...

, the population was 6,277. There were 2,715 housing units, of which 2,497 were occupied and 218 were vacant. The racial makeup of the city was 82.1%

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 ...

, 0.6%

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 ...

, 1.2%

Native American Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

, 1.6% Asian, 0.4%

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 ...

, 4.1% from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), ...

, and 10% from two or more races.

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 were 9.1% of the population. 22.9% of residents were under the age of 18.

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 4,989 people, 1,948 households, and 1,287 families residing in the city. 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 2,196 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 91.5% White, 0.6% African American, 1.3% Native American, 1.1% Asian, 0.7% Pacific Islander, 1.8% from other races, and 3.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.7% of the population. There were 1,948 households, of which 31.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.5% 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, 11.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 33.9% were non-families. 26.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 2.95. The median age in the city was 37.6 years. 23.8% of residents were under the age of 18; 9.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.2% were from 25 to 44; 27.4% were from 45 to 64; and 14% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 51.0% male and 49.0% female.

2000 census

At the 2000 census, there were 4,096 people, 1,621 households and 1,087 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 1,799 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 92.53% White, 0.22% African American, 1.32% Native American, 1.76% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 1.27% from other races, and 2.83% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.91% of the population. 15.4% were of

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

, 12.1%

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, 9.2%

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

, 8.9% Irish and 8.1% Norwegian ancestry according to Census 2000. There were 1,621 households, of which 33.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.1% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.9% were non-families. 26.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.00. Age distribution was 26.6% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 13.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.3 males. The median household income was $33,472, and the median family income was $42,946. Males had a median income of $31,654 versus $21,133 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $16,874. About 11.9% of families and 14.2% 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 19.4% of those under age 18 and 11.7% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Warrenton High School is a small school with a total enrollment of between 300 and 400. Warrenton Grade School is a

K-8 school K8 or K-8 may refer to: * K-8 (Kansas highway), two highways in Kansas, one in northern Kansas, one in southern Kansas * K-8 school, a type of school that includes kindergarten and grades one through eight * K8 telephone box, designed by Bruce M ...

with a total enrollment of about 700 students. In 2021, Warrenton Middle School opened to the east of Highway 101. Warrenton Grade School now serves about 480 students while the new middle school serves about 250 students. All three schools claim the name “Warrior” as their mascot.

Notable people

Brian Bruney Brian Anthony Bruney (born February 17, 1982) is an Americans, American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Yankees, Washington Nationals, and Chicago White Sox. He ...

, Major League Baseball pitcher * Clara C. Munson, first woman elected mayor in Oregon during the 20th century *

Janet Stevenson Janet Marshall Stevenson (February 4, 1913 – June 9, 2009) was an American writer, teacher and social activist who wrote in the areas of civil rights, the women's movement, the peace movement, the environment and the arts. She published works ...

, writer

References

External links

Entry for Warrenton
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 ...

''
Historic photos of Warrenton from Salem Public Library

Historic photos of Hammond, Oregon from Salem Public Library
{{authority control Cities in Oregon Cities in Clatsop County, Oregon Populated coastal places in Oregon Oregon populated places on the Columbia River 1848 establishments in Oregon Territory Populated places established in 1848 Astoria, Oregon micropolitan area Former county seats in Oregon