Pendleton, Oregon | |
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City | |
Main Street in Downtown Pendleton
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Motto: The Real West | |
Location in Oregon |
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Coordinates: 45°40′11″N 118°47′29″W / 45.66972°N 118.79139°WCoordinates: 45°40′11″N 118°47′29″W / 45.66972°N 118.79139°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Oregon |
County | Umatilla |
Incorporated | 1880 |
Government | |
• Mayor | Phillip Houk (D) |
Area | |
• Total | 10.52 sq mi (27.25 km2) |
• Land | 10.52 sq mi (27.25 km2) |
• Water | 0 sq mi (0 km2) |
Elevation | 1,200 ft (400 m) |
Population (2010) | |
• Total | 16,612 |
• Estimate (2013) | 16,935 |
• Density | 1,579.1/sq mi (609.7/km2) |
Time zone | Pacific (UTC-8) |
• Summer (DST) | Pacific (UTC-7) |
ZIP code | 97801 |
Area code(s) | 458 and 541 |
FIPS code | 41-57150 |
GNIS feature ID | 1125283 |
Website | www.pendleton.or.us |
Pendleton is a city in Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. Developed along the Umatilla River, Pendleton was named in 1868 by the county commissioners for George H. Pendleton, Democratic candidate for vice-president in the 1864 presidential campaign. The population was 16,612 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Umatilla County.
Pendleton is the smaller of the two principal cities of the Hermiston-Pendleton Micropolitan Statistical Area. This micropolitan area covers Morrow and Umatilla counties and had a combined population of 87,062 at the 2010 census.
A European-American commercial center began to develop here in 1851, when Dr. William C. McKay established a trading post at the mouth of McKay Creek. A United States Post Office named Marshall (for the owner, and sometime gambler, of another local store) was established April 21, 1865, and later renamed Pendleton. The city was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on October 25, 1880.
By 1900, Pendleton had a population of 4,406 and was the fourth-largest city in Oregon. The Pendleton Woolen Mills and Pendleton Round Up became features of the city captured in early paintings by Walter S. Bowman. Like many cities in Eastern Oregon, where thousands of Chinese immigrant workers built the transcontinental railroad, it had a flourishing Chinatown that developed as the workers settled here. The sector is supposed to have been underlain by a network of tunnels, which are now a tourist attraction. The authenticity as a Chinese tunnel system has been questioned.