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Cities Near Cottage Grove, OR
440 S 8th St
Cottage Grove, OR (in city)
3 Bed, 2 Bath
Home
1600 sq.ft.
Hamm Rd
Creswell, OR (9.0 miles)
Vacant Lot or Land
Local city information for Cottage Grove, OR
Cottage Grove is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. It received its name from its first postmaster, G. C. Pierce, in September 1861. Pierce's home at the time was in an oak grove. The population was 8,445 at the 2000 census. The 2007 estimate is 9,345 residents.
The first white settlers came to Cottage Grove in 1848 via the Oregon Trail and then the Applegate Trail. Until that time, only the Kalapuya Indians occupied the southern territory of the Willamette Valley. The first Post Office was established in the house of Greenbery C. Pearce, who lived near Creswell, in 1855. As was common in Oregon pioneer days, post offices for locations would move with each new postmaster, and it wasn't until the later 1860s that the Cottage Grove post office arrived at its final location, in the extreme southwest of present day Cottage Grove. When the Southern Pacific Railroad built their line through the area, they built their station more than half a mile to the northeast of the post office, starting a bitter neighborhood disagreement. Since the inhabitants near the post office would not allow it to be moved next to the railroad station, a post office was established near the station, called Lemati, after the Chinook word
lemiti for mountain. In 1887, Cottage Grove was incorporated as a city, but the eastern community still used the name
Lemati intermittently until both communities were merged in 1898.
In 1863, gold was discovered in what became known as the Bohemia mining district on the Calapooya Divide southeast of the town, which was named after James "Bohemia" Johnson. Gold mining activities died down in the 1920s. In 1926, Buster Keaton's
The General was filmed in Cottage Grove and the surrounding countryside. The movie included a spectacular locomotive crash and the wrecked train became a minor tourist attraction until it was dismantled for scrap during World War II. The 1973 movie
Emperor of the North Pole was filmed in and around Cottage Grove, as were parts of the 1978 movie
Animal House. The 25th anniversary of
Animal House's release was celebrated by the citizens with a toga party on August 30, 2003, on Main Street. Main Street is where the climactic parade sequence from the movie was filmed. Portions of the movie
Stand By Me were filmed along the railroad tracks east of Cottage Grove, which are now the Row River National Recreation Trail, a bicycle and walking trail.
In May 1994, Cottage Grove was one of four Oregon cities to pass a law promoted by the Oregon Citizens Alliance denying discrimination protection to gays and lesbians. This vote and the events leading up to it are profiled in the book, ''The Stranger Next Door: The Story of a Small Community's Battle Over Sex, Faith, and Civil Rights
by Arlene Stein. Cottage Grove the town referred to in the book using the pseudonym "Timbertown".
Cottage Grove is also known as the Covered Bridge Capital of Oregon. Seven covered bridges are located in or around Cottage Grove. The only existing covered railroad bridge west of the Mississippi River, the National Register of Historic Places-listed Chambers Railroad Bridge is located in Cottage Grove. The City of Cottage Grove has secured ownership of the Chambers Railroad Bridge and is seeking funding to restore it.
Cottage Grove has been awarded the All-America City Award from the National Civic League twice, in 1968 and 2004.
Cottage Grove is home to 21 murals located throughout downtown that reflect the history of the community.
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