Polk County, Oregon
Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.
At a glance
SummaryThe National Register of Historic Places includes 33 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1971. Most listings are in or near Independence, Monmouth, Salem.
Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.
Newspapers
Library of CongressNewspaper directory data for Oregon is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Polk titles at the Library of Congress.
National Register of Historic Places
NPS NRHP27 of 33 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.
33 listed properties
Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.
County formation
Newberry AHCBPolk was formed in 1845 (1845-12-22) from unknown / original county.
POLK created by Oregon Territory from all of Non-County Area 2; Non-County Area 2 eliminated.
Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
Population by decade
CensusPolk County population from 1850 to 2020 (Census historical series).
| 1850 | 1860 | 1880 | 1900 | 1920 | 1940 | 1950 | 1960 | 1980 | 2000 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,051 | 3,625 | 6,601 | 9,923 | 14,181 | 19,989 | 26,317 | 26,523 | 45,203 | 62,380 | 87,433 |
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.
Cemeteries & historical places
USGS GNIS34 cemeteries and 8 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.
Cemeteries — 34 of 34 listed
| Name |
|---|
| Ball Cemetery |
| Bethel Cemetery |
| Brown Cemetery |
| Buena Vista Cemetery |
| Butler Davidson Cemetery |
| Cemetery Hill Cemetery |
| Claremont Cemetery |
| Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Cemetery |
| Dallas Cemetery |
| Edwards Pioneer Cemetery |
| Embree Cemetery |
| Etna Cemetery |
| Falls City Cemetery |
| Falls City Odd Fellows Cemetery |
| Fast Cemetery |
| Fircrest Cemetery |
| Harmony Cemetery |
| Hart Riggs Cemetery |
| Hubbard Cemetery |
| Hussey Cemetery |
| Indian Cemetery |
| Mennonite Cemetery |
| Montgomery Cemetery |
| Pedee Cemetery |
| Pleasant Hill Pioneer Cemetery |
| Restlawn Memory Gardens Cemetery |
| Salt Creek Cemetery |
| Schrag Cemetery |
| Smith Cemetery |
| Taylor Cemetery |
| Willamina Cemetery |
| Williams Cemetery |
| Womer Cemetery |
| Zena Cemetery |
Historical populated places — 8 of 8
| Name |
|---|
| Bowersville |
| Carey |
| Cochrane |
| Ferns |
| Kingwood Park |
| Putnam |
| Tucker |
| Valsetz |
Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.
Historical markers
HMdb linkMarker 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 Polk County, Oregon
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