Cottage Grove’s post office opened in 1855, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns · #32 of 142 in Oregon. What drives it
8 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 24 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1900.
From Cottage Grove’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Cottage Grove began, and where its name came from
When was Cottage Grove founded?
1855
The Cottage Grove post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1887. Two smaller post offices, Preston (1853) and Lemati (1893), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 974 in 19002020 census: 10,574171 years
How did Cottage Grove get its name?
Cottage Grove was named by its first postmaster, G. C. Pearce, whose home was in an oak grove.
How historic is Cottage Grove?
B+
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Cottage Grove post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1887. Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Cottage Grove’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cottage Grove is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #32 of 142 in Oregon. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cottage Grove’s overall grade.
Oregon towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Oregon town has 2.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Cottage Grove’s 29.9 sits above most of its state (87% of Oregon towns have fewer) while its 32 historic buildings outnumber those of 82% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1887 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Cottage Grove’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
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 189…
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cottage Grove. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1921Cottage Grove 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 Cottage Grove.
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.
Retake this viewHouse being moved through the main street of town (population 2473). Deposited over Sunday on intersection of U.S. 99. …, 1939
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Cottage Grove’s page.
Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds
Cottage Grove’s post office has been open since 1855. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Preston
1853–1855
Cottage Grove
1855–today
Lemati
1893–1898
18501940today
Gone or out of use
Preston Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Cottage Grove
Mc Farland
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Cottage Grove’s history
What year was Cottage Grove founded?
The Cottage Grove post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1887.
How does Cottage Grove rank for history?
Cottage Grove is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #32 of 142 in Oregon. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Cottage Grove?
8 listings: 6 buildings, among them the First Presbyterian Church (listed 1974, the first), 1 historic district, the Cottage Grove Downtown Commercial Historic District, with 24 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 32 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Cottage Grove?
13% of Cottage Grove’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.5 points), against a typical 5.3% for an Oregon town; the median home was built in 1977.
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).
From the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (5), the National Register of Historic Places (8), 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.
