Champoeg, Oregon | |
|---|---|
 Museum at the state heritage area | |
 Location near neighboring cities | |
  Champoeg  Champoeg | |
| Coordinates:45°14′56″N122°53′49″W / 45.24889°N 122.89694°W /45.24889; -122.89694 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Oregon |
| County | Marion |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
| ZIP code | 97137 |
| Area codes | 503 and 971 |
Champoeg (/ʃæmˈpuːiː/sham-POO-ee, historically/ʃæmˈpuːɛɡ/sham-POO-eg[1]) is a former town in theU.S. state ofOregon. Now aghost town, it was an important settlement in theWillamette Valley in the early 1840s. Located halfway betweenOregon City andSalem, it was the site of the first provisional government of theOregon Country.
The town site is on the south bank of theWillamette River in northernMarion County, onFrench Prairie, approximately 5 mi (8.0 km) southeast ofNewberg. The town is now part ofChampoeg State Heritage Area, anOregon state park. TheChampoeg State Park Historic Archeological District is within the heritage area.
The name "Champoeg" comes from theKalapuyan word[čʰámpuik], which might be an abbreviation of[čʰa-čʰíma-púičuk], referring to the edible root[púičuk], oryampa.[2]
Champoeg is best known as the site of aseries of meetings held in the town during the 1840s. On February 7, 1841, Willamette Valley settlers convened there for the first time. They selectedOregon missionaryJason Lee as their chairman and considered measures to deal with problem ofwolves menacing their settlements. It was to be the first in a series of "Wolf Meetings" at the town site that would establish the basis of civil codes.
By the middle 1840s, the question of the possession of the disputed Oregon Country between the United States and theUnited Kingdom began to loom large. On May 2, 1843, a meeting was held at the town to determine whether a provisional government should be established. The measure passed by 52 to 50. A group of nine representatives was named to create a provisional government with Champoeg as its capital. A petition to theUnited States Congress was drafted and sent toWashington, D.C., withWilliam Gilpin, who had helped draft the petition and came to the Willamette Valley with the expedition ofJohn C. Frémont. On his journey eastward to deliver the petition, Gilpin evangelized for the settlement of thePacific Northwest, helping to spread "Oregon fever". He presented the petition to Congress in 1845. The question of possession of the Oregon Country was settled the following year in the 1846Oregon Treaty. When theOregon Territory wasorganized in 1848, however, Champoeg was not chosen as the capital.
Around 1852 the town had grown to include aferry across the Willamette, a warehouse owned byFrancis Pettygrove andAlanson Beers, a steamboat landing, a granary owned by theHudson's Bay Company, and a stagecoach office.[3] There were 10 north–south streets and six east–west streets laid out in the community. Champoeg was also the crossroads of the Champoeg-St. Paul Road, Champoeg-Salem Road, Champoeg-Oregon City Road, and the Champoeg-DeGuire's Ferry Road.[3] Most of the town was located on theDonation Land Claims ofRobert Newell andAndré Longtain.[3]
The town continued to exist after Oregon statehood. However, on December 2, 1861, the adjacentWillamette River rose 55 feet (17 m) above its normal summer stage,flooding the town with seven feet (2.1 m) of water.The great flood destroyed most of the structures in the town, barring two saloons. Panicked residents found shelter at the Newell House, which was built upon a hill. Robert Newell went nearly bankrupt in caring for the flood victims. Champoeg was never rebuilt after the disaster. The town site is now preserved as Champoeg State Heritage Area. A 1901 monument records the names of the 52 settlers who voted to establish the provisional government at the 1843 meeting. Dams installed since the 1930s make another catastrophic flood unlikely.
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Amenities of the heritage area include a visitor center, an 1860s-style garden, theNewell House Museum –Robert Newell's restored 1852 house – and thePioneer Mothers Memorial Cabin Museum.[4]
Also located in the park is the Historic Butteville Store, which was founded in 1863. Considered the oldest operating store in Oregon, it is the last remaining commercial building of the nearby community ofButteville.[4] A series of weekend interpretive programs is available late June through Labor Day weekend, and the Champoeg Promise program provides an interactiveliving history program for schoolchildren.[4]
The site is open year-round and is available for camping (tent, yurt, cabin and RV), hiking, disc golf, bicycling, bird watching, picnicking, fishing and boating.[4]
| This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(March 2008) |
Champoeg State Park Historic Archeological District | |
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| Nearest city | St. Paul, Oregon |
|---|---|
| Built | 1830 |
| NRHP reference No. | 84003038[5] |
| Added to NRHP | August 01, 1984 |
The Champoeg State Heritage Area is the site of the Champoeg State Park Historic Archeological District, which was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1984.[5][6] One of the important archeological finds at the site is the only mostly intact early homesite found so far onFrench Prairie.[7] The evidence suggests that this was Robert Newell's first homesite.[7]
Media related toChampoeg, Oregon at Wikimedia CommonsMunicipalities and communities ofMarion County, Oregon,United States | ||
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| Cities |  | |
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| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Ghost towns | ||
| Indian reservation | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
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