Cottage Grove, Oregon
Cottage Grove is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. Its population was 10,643 at the 2020 census. It is the third largest city in Lane County. It is on Interstate 5, Oregon Route 99, and the main Willamette Valley line of the CORP railroad.
History
Cottage Grove post office was established in 1855 east of present-day Creswell. It was named by its first postmaster, G. C. Pearce, whose home was in an oak grove. In 1861, the office was moved to the present site of Saginaw; then in the late 1860s, to the southwesternmost part of present-day Cottage Grove, on the west bank of the Coast Fork Willamette River. When the Southern Pacific railroad was built through the area in the 1870s, Cottage Grove station was placed more than half a mile northeast of the post office, on the river's east side. This was the start of a neighborhood dispute that lasted for nearly 20 years. The people living near the post office did not want it moved to the railroad station, so a new office was established at the station with the name Lemati, a Chinook Jargon word that means "mountain". Lemati office ran from November 1893 to September 1894, but in March 1898 the Cottage Grove office was renamed Lemati, and ran that way until it was permanently renamed Cottage Grove in May 1898.The only existing covered railroad bridge west of the Mississippi River, the National Register of Historic Places-listed Chambers Railroad Bridge, is in Cottage Grove. The city restored the bridge in 2011, reopening it on December 3.
Cottage Grove received the All-America City Award by the National Civic League in 1968 and 2004. It has been recognized as a Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation for over a decade. In October 2008, it was the 17th city in the United States to be recognized as a Green Power Community.
Lemati
Cottage Grove was incorporated in 1887, but the people on the city's east side rebelled in 1893 and founded East Cottage Grove. The Oregon State Legislature changed its name to Lemati in 1895; the train station's signboard said "Cottage Grove", with "Lemati" appearing in smaller letters. In 1899 an act was passed that consolidated the two towns as Cottage Grove.Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of, of which is land and is water.Cottage Grove lies south of the confluence of the Row River and the Coast Fork of the Willamette River. This confluence effectively marks the southern end of the Willamette Valley.
Climate
This region experiences warm and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Cottage Grove has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated Csb on climate maps.Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Cottage Grove had a population of 10,574. The median age was 39.7 years. 23.3% of residents were under the age of 18 and 19.4% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 95.4 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 92.0 males age 18 and over.100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while <0.1% lived in rural areas.
There were 4,078 households in Cottage Grove, of which 32.3% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 41.8% were married-couple households, 18.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 29.5% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 27.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 4,251 housing units, of which 4.1% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 60.1% were owner-occupied and 39.9% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.0% and the rental vacancy rate was 3.9%.
| Race | Number | Percent |
| White | 8,580 | 81.1% |
| Black or African American | 45 | 0.4% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 169 | 1.6% |
| Asian | 106 | 1.0% |
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander | 16 | 0.2% |
| Some other race | 578 | 5.5% |
| Two or more races | 1,080 | 10.2% |
| Latino Americans|Hispanic or Latino] | 1,217 | 11.5% |
2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 9,686 people, 3,895 households, and 2,469 families living in the city. The population density was. There were 4,154 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the city was 90.4% White, 0.3% African American, 1.3% Native American, 1.1% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 3.1% from other races, and 3.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.0% of the population.There were 3,895 households, of which 32.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.8% were married couples living together, 14.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 36.6% were non-families. 29.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.02.
The median age in the city was 38.3 years. 24.4% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.1% were from 25 to 44; 25.3% were from 45 to 64; and 16.5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.0% male and 52.0% female.
2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 8,445 people, 3,264 households, and 2,183 families living in the city. The population density was. There were 3,430 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the city was 92.84% White, 0.15% African American, 1.21% Native American, 0.92% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 1.55% from other races, and 3.23% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.94% of the population. There were 3,264 households, out of which 33.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.4% were married couples living together, 13.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.1% were non-families. 28.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.05.In the city, the population dispersal was 27.4% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 16.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.5 males. The median income for a household in the city was $30,442, and the median income for a family was $37,457. Males had a median income of $30,775 versus $23,485 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,550. About 15.6% of families and 19.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.0% of those under age 18 and 13.0% of those age 65 or over.
Arts and culture
Annual cultural events
The largest festivals in Cottage Grove are Bohemia Mining Days and the Western Oregon Exposition Heritage Fair.Museums and other points of interest
Cottage Grove is known as the "Covered Bridge Capital of The West" with six covered bridges near the city. Five of the six bridges, Chambers Covered Bridge, Currin Bridge, Dorena Bridge, Mosby Creek Bridge, and Stewart Bridge, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Centennial Covered Bridge is a replica bridge constructed from materials salvaged from dismantled bridges. The Swinging Bridge is a historic suspension footbridge.It is home to 21 murals throughout downtown reflecting the community's history.
The Cottage Theatre and the Opal Center for Arts and Education offer excellent live theatre productions year-round.
Cottage Grove has four museums:
- The Cottage Grove Historical Museum, filled with vintage photographs and artifacts, including a coat worn by a survivor of the 1912 shipwreck of the RMS Titanic
- The Bohemia Gold Mining Museum, illustrating the area's gold mining history in the nearby Bohemia Mining District
- The Oregon Aviation History Center, preserving Oregon's rich aviation history, including some vintage aircraft restoration projects.
- The Dr. Snapp House, with artifacts of early medical practices; built in 1886 by one of the community's first doctors, the Queen Anne–style home is owned and maintained by the Prospectors' and Gold Diggers' Club.
Filming location
- Buster Keaton's The General in town and the surrounding countryside; the film included a spectacular locomotive crash, and the wrecked train was a minor tourist attraction until it was dismantled for scrap during World War II
- Emperor of the North Pole
- Parts of Animal House ; citizens celebrated the film's 25th-anniversary release with a toga party on August 30, 2003, on Main Street, where the movie's climactic parade sequence was filmed
- Portions of Stand By Me, along the railroad tracks east of town
- Ricochet River starring Kate Hudson
Sports