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History · Canyon City

Canyon City’s post office opened in 1864, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the St. Thomas' Episcopal Church. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1911 on, and the census since 1870.

1864first post office
1on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Canyon City’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Canyon City began

When was Canyon City founded?

1864

The Canyon City post office opened in 1864, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1891.

First census: 250 in 18702020 census: 660162 years
Founding year: the first Canyon City post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1891.The full story ↓

What stands out about Canyon City’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1880 and 1930, then more than doubled.Old housesHalf of Canyon City’s homes were built before 1957.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Canyon City’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Canyon City’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCanyon City, Oregon, 1884: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Canyon City, census by census

010020030040050060070018801900192019401960198020002020393 in 1880Low: 268

Lost a third of its people between 1880 and 1930, then more than doubled.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Canyon City’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Canyon City came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Canyon City.

Read it all →

Canyon City was established in June 1862 as a result of the discovery of gold in Canyon Creek, which flows from the south to meet the John Day River at John Day. As up to 10,000 miners flocked to Whiskey Gulch and other sections of the canyon during the early stages of the rush, land values between Canyon City and John Day rose to about $500 per square yard ($600/m2). Little of this estimated population influx is reflected in U.S. Census Bureau tallies for Canyon City, which have fluctuated between 250 and about 700 since 1870.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Canyon City, 1864 to 2010

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1864Post officeThe Canyon City post office opens
  3. 1869Born hereJoseph Poindexter is born here
  4. 1884In the archiveCanyon City, Oregon, 1884
  5. 20th century
  6. 1937In the archive1937XXXX-FS-Malheur-LB-348541
  7. 1940On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 21st century
  9. 2010CensusPopulation peaks at 703
By decade

Canyon City, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s2 items
Canyon City, Oregon, 18841884Canyon City, Oregon, 1884Untitled photo1885Untitled photo
1890s–1920snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
1930s2 items
1937XXXX-FS-Malheur-LB-34854119371937XXXX-FS-Malheur-LB-348541Canyon City-Oregon-19371937Canyon City-Oregon-1937
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today2 recent
ORMap-doton-Canyon City2004ORMap-doton-Canyon CityCanyon City - DPLA - 1cedc39d0db2b2e37cec5b7d7858c8732004Canyon City - DPLA - 1cedc39d0db2b2e37cec5b7d7858c873
On the map

Canyon City on the map, 1940 to 1998

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Canyon City. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Canyon City on the 1940 USGS mapCanyon City on the 1972 USGS mapCanyon City on the 1983 USGS mapCanyon City on the 1998 USGS map1940John Day sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Canyon City.

Every building

Canyon City, building by building, 1911–1930

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Canyon City fire insurance map, 1911, sheet 11911Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Canyon City, Oregon, 1884
Retake this viewCanyon City, Oregon, 1884, 1884

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Canyon City’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Canyon City

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1974
St. Thomas' Episcopal Church
St. Thomas' Episcopal Church
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Jacobean1
Stick Style1
St. Thomas' Episcopal ChurchJacobean

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Canyon City’s post office has been open since 1864.

Gone or out of use
John Long Placer Minemine
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Canyon City
Canyon CitySaint Andrews

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Canyon City’s history

What year was Canyon City founded?

The Canyon City post office opened in 1864, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1891.

What is on the National Register in Canyon City?

One place: the St. Thomas' Episcopal Church (listed 1974).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.