Olney, Oregon facts for kids
Olney is a small, quiet community in Clatsop County, Oregon, in the United States. It's known as an unincorporated community, which means it doesn't have its own local government like a city or town. Olney was also once a special type of place called a company town.
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What Was Olney?
Olney used to be a "company town." This means that one main company owned most of the houses and businesses there. Most people living in Olney worked for that company. It was a common way for large industries, like logging, to house their workers in the past.
How Olney Got Its Name
Olney was named after a very important person from the area. His name was Cyrus Olney, and he was a judge for the Oregon Territory Supreme Court. He lived in a nearby city called Astoria.
Life in a Logging Town
In the early 1900s, the area around Olney was full of logging camps. Logging is the process of cutting down trees for wood. Many of these camps were hard to reach. People could only get there by boat on the Youngs River or by a special train line called the Columbia and Nehalem River Railroad.
The Western Cooperage Company
In 1910, a big company called the Western Cooperage Company set up a camp in Olney. A "cooperage" is a place where people make barrels, usually from wood. From 1923 to 1943, another company, the Tidewater Timber Company, ran the operations.
The Western Cooperage Company provided homes for its workers. This was typical for a company town. In 1915, about 50 people lived in Olney, which was close to its largest size.
Olney's Post Office
Olney had its own post office for many years. It first opened in 1875 and stayed open until 1950. This helped the people living and working in the remote logging community stay connected.
Olney Today
Even though Olney is much smaller now, it still has a general store. A general store is a place where you can buy many different kinds of things, from food to tools. It's often a central spot in small communities.
