Vesper 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 Clatsop 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. The

Nehalem River The Nehalem River is a river on the Pacific coast of northwest Oregon in the United States, approximately long. It drains part of the Northern Oregon Coast Range northwest of Portland, originating on the east side of the mountains and flowing in ...

flows through the town. Settled in 1876 by William Johnston, a man who would be responsible for the town's first

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

and

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

, Vesper borders Jewell and the Columbia County line. Johnston also served as the town's first postmaster. Before 1901, Vesper was completely isolated from the rest of the county on land; for one to reach the community, it would have been necessary to travel via ferry on the Nehalem River. The county expanded wagon roads to the community, eventually leading to automobile roads being built in 1908. Nowadays, Oregon Route 202 passes through Vesper.

History

Founding and name

Vesper was settled by William Johnston in 1876 with his family, who were from

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The name Vesper is commonly applied to

Hesperus In Greek mythology, Hesperus (; ) is the Evening Star, the planet Venus in the evening. A son of the dawn goddess Eos ( Roman Aurora), he is the half-brother of her other son, Phosphorus (also called Eosphorus; the "Morning Star"). Hesperus' Rom ...

, Greek mythology's personification for the planet

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

. The reason Johnston selected the name is unknown. Johnston established the first

in Vesper during the Winter of 1879. He also served as the town's first postmaster. By 1895, E. A. Carl had taken over the reins as postmaster. Another contribution to the Vesper community by Johnston was the town's first church, which he built with his family. Lumber for the church was supplied by the local

Douglas-fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is the tallest tree in the Pinaceae family. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Or ...

trees. The congregation at Emmanuel

Episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United States ...

Church was still meeting at the church until the late-1980s. The church stands to this day.

Roads

The first

wagon road ''Wagon Train'' is an American Western television series that aired for eight seasons, first on the NBC television network (1957–1962) and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and reached the top of the N ...

connecting

Astoria, Oregon Astoria is a Port, port city in and the county seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state and was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. The county is the ...

with the Nehalem Valley, ending at Vesper was built in 1901. The road was 42 miles long. Those roads were restored often after that, including 1908, 1911, and 1914. The 1914 reconstruction was the most expensive highway project in the history of Clatsop County at the time with an estimated cost of $542,875. Vesper was host to an early

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

run from

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

on July 15, 1915. The 129 mile tour took the duo on the run, Frank L. Parker and C. S. Brown, 13 hours. The first

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

in Vesper, which spanned the Nehalem River, was built in 1914. Clatsop County approved the building of two additional

s connecting Vesper and

Jewell, Oregon Jewell is an unincorporated community in Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. The logging community is located at the junction of Oregon Route 103 and Oregon Route 202, near the Nehalem River. History Jewell was named after Marshall Jewell ...

three years later. The two

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

bridges consisted of a single

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as Beam (structure), beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so ...

. Presently, Oregon Route 202 goes through the town of Vesper. Another notable road in the town is Old 77 Vesper Lane, which is a gravel road built alongside the Nehalem River.

Natural history and agriculture

Much of Vesper is

forested A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological functio ...

timberland and

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. During the 1920s, a Vesper resident by the name of H. A. Scullen operated an

apiary An apiary (also known as a bee yard) is a location where Beehive (beekeeping), beehives of honey bees are kept. Apiaries come in many sizes and can be rural or urban depending on the honey production operation. Furthermore, an apiary may refer to ...

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Clatsop County, Oregon Populated places established in the 1870s 1879 establishments in Oregon Populated places established in 1879 Unincorporated communities in Oregon