Hardman, Oregon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Hardman, Oregon
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Collapsing house in Hardman
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 Hardman, Oregon
Location in Oregon
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| Country | United States |
| State | Oregon |
| County | Morrow |
| Elevation | 3,563 ft (1,086 m) |
| Population
(1990)
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| • Total | 20 |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (Pacific) |
| Area code(s) | 541 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1136356 |
Hardman is a historic community located in southern Morrow County, in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is on Oregon Route 207 about 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Heppner and 32 miles (51 km) north of Spray. Hardman is at an elevation of about 3,600 feet (1,100 m) in an agricultural area slightly west of the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon. Rock Creek, a tributary of the Columbia River, flows northwest by Hardman and to its south to meet the river at Lake Umatilla. A former social and commercial center for surrounding farm communities, Hardman became a ghost town following the completion of a railroad to Heppner in the 1920s. The main surviving commercial building, the Hardman IOOF Lodge Hall, was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 2012.
History
| Historical population | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1900 | 121 | — | |
| 1910 | 191 | 57.9% | |
| 1920 | 193 | 1.0% | |
| 1930 | 120 | −37.8% | |
| 1940 | 83 | −30.8% | |
| 1950 | 58 | −30.1% | |
| 1960 | 30 | −48.3% | |
| 1970 | 19 | −36.7% | |
| 1990 | 20 | — | |
The first settlers in the area were John F. Royse and his brother. Royse started a school in 1879 at a place called Dairyville, which locals referred to as "Rawdog". At the same time, David N. Hardman, who arrived in the county in 1878, started a settlement a mile to the southeast. A post office named Hardman was established there in 1881 with Hardman as postmaster. A mile to the northwest of Dairyville was the community of Adamsville, known to the locals as "Yallerdog". In 1882, the Hardman post office was moved to Dairyville but retained the Hardman name. Adamsville post office was established in 1884 and closed in 1885, and thereafter, all activity centered on what is now Hardman, where the post office ran intermittently until 1968. Locals called the place "Dogtown" after its two predecessors. Why the locals named these communities after dogs is unknown.
According to the NRHP nomination form for the IOOF hall, a history of Umatilla and Morrow counties that was published in 1902 said that Hardman at that time had three general stores, two hotels, two feed stables, two blacksmiths, a saloon, a barber shop, a church, schools, a post office, a newspaper, and a telephone office. Other infrastructure included two meeting halls, a skating rink, and a racetrack.
Images for kids
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1892 article in the Heppner Gazette (Heppner, Oregon) advertising Hardman, Oregon.
