Winchester 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 ...

Douglas County, Oregon Douglas County is one of the List of counties in Oregon, 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 111,201. The county seat is Roseburg, Oregon, Roseburg. Oregon Geographic ...

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 ...

. It is on the south bank of the North Umpqua River north of Roseburg on

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...

and is included in the Roseburg North CDP for statistical purposes. Winchester sits on the south side of the North Umpqua River on Oregon Highway 99. The Winchester Bridge spans the North Umpqua River. Winchester is also known for the Winchester Dam that was constructed in 1889 and is 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 ...

History

Winchester was laid out in 1850 by surveyor Addison R. Flint, who was part of an Umpqua exploring expedition from

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 ...

. The town was named for one of two brothers named Winchester who took part in the expedition, probably Heman Winchester, who was the expedition's captain. Winchester was the largest settlement in the

Umpqua Valley The Umpqua River ( ) on the Pacific coast of Oregon in the United States is approximately long. One of the principal rivers of the Oregon Coast and known for bass and shad, the river drains an expansive network of valleys in the mountains west ...

for many years and the

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 ...

until 1854, when it was moved to Roseburg. Winchester post office was established in 1851, and Flint served as the first postmaster. The community was incorporated as a city by the

Oregon Legislative Assembly The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the State legislature (United States), state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper house, upper and lower chamber: the Oregon State Senate, Sena ...

on February 20, 1891.

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, Winchester 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.

References

External links

Historic image of the North Umpqua at Winchester
from Salem Public Library
Biography of A. R. FlintAddison R. Flint obituary
from

Salem Pioneer Cemetery Salem Pioneer Cemetery (also known as the Oddfellows, I.O.O.F. Cemetery or Oddfellows Cemetery) is a cemetery in Salem, Oregon, United States. It has been listed as a National Register of Historic Places since 2013, under the name Odd Fellows Ru ...

Former cities in Oregon Unincorporated communities in Douglas County, Oregon 1850 establishments in Oregon Territory Unincorporated communities in Oregon Former county seats in Oregon {{DouglasCountyOR-geo-stub