County Past
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Columbia County, Oregon

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
12historic places
—earliest paper
1854formed
52,589pop. 2020
29cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 12 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1978. Most listings are in or near Scappoose, Clatskanie, St. Helens.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for Oregon is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Columbia titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

7 of 12 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

12 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Caples, Dr. Charles G. and Lucinda McBride, FarmsteadColumbia CityBuilding2005
Clatskanie IOOF HallClatskanieBuilding2012
Cox-Williams HouseSt. HelensBuilding1982
Flippin, Thomas J., HouseClatskanieBuilding1979
Heimuller, John and Carolena, FarmsteadScappooseBuilding2011
Moeck, George F., HouseRainierBuilding1978
Oregon-American Lumber Company Mill OfficeVernoniaBuilding2002
Portland and Southwestern Railroad TunnelScappooseStructure1981
St. Helens Downtown Historic DistrictSt. HelensDistrict1984
United States Post Office (Scappoose)ScappooseBuilding2017
Watts, James Grant, HouseScappooseBuilding1980
Woodbine Cemetery-Green Mountain CemeteryRainierSite2001

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Columbia was formed in 1854 (1854-01-16) from Washington.

COLUMBIA created by Oregon Territory from WASHINGTON.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Columbia County population from 1860 to 2020 (Census historical series).

53k27k5321860188019201940196020002020
1860188019001920194019501960198020002020
5322,0426,23713,96020,97122,96722,37935,64643,56052,589

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

29 cemeteries and 4 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 29 of 29 listed
NameLatLon
Apiary Cemetery46.00991-123.02103
Bryant Cemetery46.10518-123.19287
Columbia Memorial Gardens Cemetery45.78642-122.87085
Fairview Cemetery45.73472-122.87695
Fishhawk Cemetery46.01135-123.32502
Goble Cemetery45.98274-122.9575
Hudson Cemetery46.09833-122.99468
Independent Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery45.82707-122.8424
Kinder Cemetery45.91343-122.8255
Knights of Pythias Cemetery46.07834-122.93044
Lutheran Cemetery45.82152-122.85053
Maplewood Cemetery46.09941-123.20422
Masonic Cemetery45.87767-122.81959
Mayger Downing Cemetery46.15789-123.09373
Mist Cemetery46.00055-123.24793
Murray Hill Cemetery46.09784-123.21442
Neer City Cemetery46.02495-122.88943
North Cemetery of Clear Creek45.8027-123.29529
Old Yankton Cemetery45.86592-122.87807
Palm CemeteryNoneNone
Pioneer Cemetery45.8689-123.19081
Pisgah Home Cemetery45.7853-122.99639
Prescott Cemetery46.03269-122.89373
Saint Wenceslaus Cemetery45.74394-122.88139
Shiloh Basin Cemetery45.96764-122.94916
Stewart Creek Cemetery46.12796-123.15664
Vernonia Cemetery45.86285-123.20527
Wilark Pioneer Cemetery45.8874-123.0326
Yankton - Hillcrest Cemetery45.8673-122.8764
Historical populated places — 4 of 4
NameLatLon
Bachelor Flat45.84789-122.86788
Fishhawk46.00539-123.33595
Hudson46.0915-123.01789
Kyser46.0665-123.07761

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Columbia County, Oregon

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.