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History · Mission

Half of Mission’s homes were built after 1984

Most of Mission was built recently: 0.7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Below: maps from 1966 on and old-book passages.

0on the National Register
0.7%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Mission’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Mission are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Mission’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Mission, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Mission yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Mission is an unincorporated community in Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Mission as a census-designated place (CDP). As of the 2020 census, Mission had a population of 960. Mission is part of the Pendleton–Hermiston Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,037 to 960 (-7%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Mission in 1851

Passages that mention Mission, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Perkins at the Dalls, David Leslie in the upper part of the Wallamette settlement, and G. Gary and G. Hines at the Wallamette Falls and Tuality Plains. The Dalls was the only Indian Mission now sustained, and both here and among the white settlements, it was necessary for the missionary constantly …
Life on the plains of the Pacific. Oregon1851 · page 243Read the page →
Read the text

Perkins at the Dalls, David Leslie in the upper part of the Wallamette settlement, and G. Gary and G. Hines at the Wallamette Falls and Tuality Plains. The Dalls was the only Indian Mission now sustained, and both here and among the white settlements, it was necessary for the missionary constantly to expose himself to fatigue and dangers in hunting up the people to give them the word of life. Fording, and swimming rivers, sleeping

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Perkins at the Dalls, David Leslie in the upper part of the Wallamette settlement, and G. Gary and G. Hines at the Wallamette Falls and Tuality Plains. The Dalls was the only Indian Mission now sustained, and both here and amonsj the wThite settlements, it was necessary for the missionary constantl…
Oregon1851 · page 243Read the page →
Read the text

Perkins at the Dalls, David Leslie in the upper part of the Wallamette settlement, and G. Gary and G. Hines at the Wallamette Falls and Tuality Plains. The Dalls was the only Indian Mission now sustained, and both here and amonsj the wThite settlements, it was necessary for the missionary constantly to expose himself to fatigue and dangers in hunting up the people to give them the word of life. Fording, and swimming rivers, sleeping

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Mission, 1851 to 1966

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1851Post officeThe Umatilla post office opens
  3. 1852Post officeThe Umatilla post office closes
  4. 1863Post officeThe Umatilla post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1966On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Mission on the map, 1966 to 1974

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

Mission on the 1966 USGS mapMission on the 1974 USGS map1966Mission 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 Mission.

Famous people

Famous people close to Mission

Nobody well known was born in Mission itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Adam WestAmerican actor · b. 1928
Hamza YusufAmerican Islamic scholar · b. 1958
C
Connor TrinneerAmerican actor · b. 1969
Gordon H. SmithAmerican politician · b. 1952
G
George Buck FlowerAmerican actor and director · b. 1937
Dave CockrumAmerican comics artist · b. 1943
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Umatilla, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Umatilla
1851–1852
Umatilla
1863–today
18501940today
Gone or out of use
Umatilla Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Mission
Agency IndianOld Agency

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

KirkpatrickIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGopher FlatsIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Mission’s history

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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.