Yamhill County, Oregon

Yamhill County Education, Geography, and History

Yamhill County is a county located in the state of Oregon. Based on the 2010 census, the population was 99,193. The county seat is McMinnville. According to Oregon Geographic Names, the origin of the name is uncertain, but is probably from an explorer's name for a local Native American tribe, the Yamhill, who are part of the North Kalapuyan family.

Yamhill County is included in the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is located in the Willamette Valley.

Etymology - Origin of Yamhill County Name

The county was named for the original inhabitants of the area, the Yamhill Indians, a tribe of the Kalapooian family, who lived around the Yamhill River. The tribe was moved to the Grand Ronde Reservation in 1855.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: CensusBureau Quick Facts

Yamhill County History

Yamhill was the second of the four original districts created by the Provisional Legislature in 1843. Its boundaries were drawn to include all the area from the Willamette River west to the Pacific Ocean and from the Yamhill River south to the California border. The district consisted of 12,000 square miles; however, twelve counties were eventually created from Yamhill County leaving 709 square miles within its present borders. The county shares borders with Washington County to the north, Tillamook County to the west, Polk County to the south, and Marion and Clackamas Counties to the east.

The county was named for the original inhabitants of the area, the Yamhill Indians, a tribe of the Kalapooian family, who lived around the Yamhill River. The tribe was moved to the Grand Ronde Reservation in 1855. The earliest non-native settlers entered the area in 1814; most were employees of the various fur companies operating in Oregon. Many of the American immigrants who came over the Oregon Trail during 1843-1844 settled in the Yamhill region, which became the agricultural center of the Willamette Valley.

LaFayette, at one time the principal trading center of the western Willamette Valley, became the county seat in 1847. The first courthouse, purchased in 1850, was originally a county store in LaFayette. The building was destroyed by fire in January 1857, and all records except probate and land records were destroyed. The next courthouse was built in 1858 and remained in use until the county seat moved in 1889 to McMinnville where a new courthouse was built. The fourth and present courthouse was built in 1964.

Yamhill County government originally consisted of three commissioners, district attorney, assessor, clerk, sheriff, surveyor, and treasurer. In 1964 the probate function was transferred from the jurisdiction of the county court to the district court. The county court was abolished in 1968 and the board of commissioners was established in 1969.

The population of Yamhill County in 2000 was 84,992 representing a 29.66% increase over 1990.

Yamhill County ranks seventh out of Oregon's thirty-six counties in annual market value of its agricultural production. Today, the county's primary industry is agriculture, specifically wheat, barley, horticulture, and dairy farming. Yamhill County is also the center of Oregon's wine industry. One-third of the county is covered with commercial timber, and the economic mainstay of the western part of the county is logging and timber products. Non-seasonal light industries have also located in Yamhill County. Nearly one-fifth of the county's workforce commutes to the Portland metropolitan area.

Geography: Land and Water

As reported by the Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 718 square miles (1,860 km²), of which 716 square miles (1,850 km²) is land and 2.5 square miles (6.5 km²) (0.3%) is water. It is the fifth-smallest county in Oregon by area.

The tallest mountain in the county is Trask Mountain in the northwest corner of the county.

Neighboring Counties

Bordering counties are as follows:

• Clackamas County (east)
• Marion County (southeast)
• Polk County (south)
• Tillamook County (west)
• Washington County (north)

Education

For tertiary education Yamhill County is served with Linfield College and Chemeketa Community College in McMinnville and George Fox University and Portland Community College in Newberg. For private secondary education the county is served by The Delphian School in Sheridan.

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