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Facts and Trivia

Facts & Trivia

• Astoria’s population was 9,477 during the 2010 census. Population has hovered near 10,000 since the 1970s. Astoria was once the second-largest city in Oregon.

• Warrenton’s population was 4,989 at the 2010 census and has increased by 22% in the last decade. The City of Warrenton also encompasses Hammond.

• Seasonally both communities surge in population during an extended tourism season, typically from May through September.

• Clatsop County’s population is approximately 37,000 residents. Astoria serves as the county seat. Both Astoria and Warrenton are main sources of employment, shopping and services for residents of Clatsop County and Pacific County, Washington.

• Astoria’s key industries are tourism, healthcare, retail and education.

• Warrenton’s key industries are healthcare, retail, education and manufacturing.

• Wood products/logging and commercial fishing industries continue their very important presence in our local economy.

• Oregon’s North Coast enjoys a mild, marine west coast climate, with annual rainfall averaging 67 inches. The mean summer high temperature is around 65 degrees Fahrenheit, and very rarely reaches 85 degrees or higher. The mean winter temperature is around 50 degrees Fahrenheit, with temperatures only occassionally dropping below freezing and a couple days a year on average see snow.

• Warrenton is home to the Camp Rilea Military Reservation and Fort Stevens State Park, an active military base from Civil War through World War II.

• The U.S. Coast Guard Sector Columbia River is located at the Astoria Regional Airport in Warrenton. The missions of the Sector include: Captain of the Port, marine safety, vessel inspection, search and rescue, ports waterways and coastal security, law enforcement, aids to navigation support, environmental protection, and support for units in the area.

• Astoria earned the designation as an Official U.S. Coast Guard City. Both communities proudly support all of our military facilities, service people and their families.

• The Astoria and Warrenton area is served by three school districts and is home to Clatsop Community College.

• Astoria is the oldest American settlement west of the Rockies and is home to the Lewis and Clark National Historic Park, Fort Clatsop.

• Fort Clatsop is the oldest U.S. military fort on the West Coast, the winter home of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1805-06. A replica was built in 1955 for the Sesquicentennial and was destroyed by a fire in 2005, weeks before the bicentennial celebration. A new historically accurate replica was built by about 700 volunteers and the National Park Service and dedicated in 2006.

• Fort Stevens is the only military installation in the continental U.S. to be fired on by a submarine since the War of 1812. Shells were discharged from a Japanese submarine during World War II. There was no damage, and Fort Stevens did not return fire.

• The English sailing vessel, the Peter Iredale, ran aground at Fort Stevens during a storm in 1906 and its remains are still visible on the beach.

• Called the “Graveyard of the Pacific,” the Columbia River Bar has claimed 2,000 vessels and 700 lives.

• Ranald MacDonald, the first man to teach the English language in Japan, was born in Astoria, in 1824.

• In 1847, the first post office west of the Rocky Mountains was established in Astoria by postmaster John Shively.

• The first U.S. Customs House in the Oregon Territory was established in 1849 in Astoria.

• By 1880, nearly 40 fish canneries, half of the those on the lower Columbia River, were located in Astoria. Fishermen from the eastern seaboard of the US and immigrant fishermen from Europe and Canada established fishing communities along the river. Many Asian immigrants and local women supplied needed labor in the canneries.

• The dangerous nature of fishing on the Columbia near the mouth of the river attracted a sizable and unruly assortment of transient fishermen during the spring salmon seasons, earning Astoria a very rowdy reputation. A reporter with The Oregonian wrote, “It is perhaps the most wicked place on earth [for its population.]”

• Captain George Flavel was one of the first licensed Columbia River Bar Pilots. He built a Queen Anne style mansion in 1885, which is now open to the public as the Flavel House Museum.

• Businesses in Astoria’s downtown were first built on wooden pilings over the Columbia River’s edge. Nearly all of downtown Astoria was destroyed in a fire in 1922. Fill dirt was added before the downtown was rebuilt. Any flat land you see in Astoria is most-likely fill.

• There are over 600 historic buildings, three national historic districts and over 40 places on the National Register of Historic Places in the Astoria-Warrenton Area. One-fourth of Astoria’s homes are eligible for Historic Landmark status.

• The region has more historical markers than any other place in the state of Oregon.

• The 4.1-mile Astoria Bridge, which connects Washington with Oregon, is the longest continuous truss bridge in North America (2nd in the world), and was the last completed segment of US Route 101 (in 1966.)

• From 1921 to 1966, there was a ferry route across the Columbia River connecting Astoria to Pacific County, Washington. In good weather, the ride took 30 minutes.

• The Fisherman’s Bride, the first movie with a plot made in Oregon was filmed in Astoria in 1908.

• Some refer to Oregon as “Hollywood North” and this area has been the setting of many major motion pictures: The Goonies (1985), Short Circuit (1986), Benji: The Hunted (1989), Come See the Paradise (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1992), Free Willy I & II (1992, 1994), The Ring II (2005), The Guardian (2005), Into the Wild (2007) and The Road (2009).

• Clark Gable began his stage career with a performance at the Astoria Theater in the summer of 1922 before becoming famous in Hollywood. The theater was destroyed in the December 1922 fire.

• Maila Nurmi, a Finnish-American actress who created the campy 1950s character Vampira, graduated from Astoria High School.

• Shanghaied in Astoria is a musical about Astoria’s history that has been performed every summer since 1984 by the Astor Street Opry Co.