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History · Dufur

Dufur’s post office opened in 1878, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Balch Hotel. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1910 on, and the census since 1900.

1878first post office
1on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Dufur began

When was Dufur founded?

1878

The Dufur post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1893.

First census: 336 in 19002020 census: 632148 years
Founding year: the first Dufur post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1893.The full story ↓

What stands out about Dufur’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 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Dufur’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Dufur’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 viewEnoch B. Dufur 1910: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Dufur came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Dufur.

Read it all →

Originally named Wasco, Dufur was incorporated on February 10, 1893, and named after Andrew Dufur and his brother Enoch Burnham Dufur. In 1859 they began raising stock on 600 acres (2.4 km2) of land located where the city now stands.

In 2018, areas of Dufur were evacuated due to three wildfires, the Long Hollow Fire, the Substation Fire, and the South Valley Fire, which burned over 100,000 acres in total.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Dufur, 1878 to 1962

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1878Post officeThe Dufur post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1907BuiltBalch Hotel is built
  5. 1910In the archiveEnoch B. Dufur 1910
  6. 1962On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Dufur, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item
Enoch B. Dufur 19101910Enoch B. Dufur 1910
1920s–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
Today5 recent
Cloudy skies from2023Cloudy skies fromA farm in Dufur, Oregon 022023A farm in Dufur, Oregon 02A farm in Dufur, Oregon 012023A farm in Dufur, Oregon 01Fifteenmile Creek in2016Fifteenmile Creek inDufur, Oregon2008Dufur, Oregon
On the map

Dufur on the map, 1962 to 1987

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

Dufur on the 1962 USGS mapDufur on the 1987 USGS map1962Dufur West sheet · 1:24,000

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

Every building

Dufur, building by building, 1910

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 sheet.

Dufur fire insurance map, 1910, sheet 11910Sheet 1 of 2
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.

Enoch B. Dufur 1910
Retake this viewEnoch B. Dufur 1910, 1910

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Dufur

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
1987
Balch Hotel
Balch Hotel, built 1907
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Vernacular1
Italianate1
Balch HotelVernacular · Built 1907

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

People over time

Dufur, census by census

01002003004005006007001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 632

Between 336 and 632 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Questions about Dufur’s history

What year was Dufur founded?

The Dufur post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1893.

What is on the National Register in Dufur?

One place: the Balch Hotel (listed 1987).

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), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.