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History · Paisley

Paisley’s post office opened in 1879, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1966 on and the census since 1880.

1879first post office
0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Tedder · CC BY 4.0
Quick answers

How Paisley began

When was Paisley founded?

1879

The Paisley post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1911.

First census: 89 in 18802020 census: 250147 years
Founding year: the first Paisley post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1911.The full story ↓

What stands out about Paisley’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 Paisley are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 350 in 1990; 250 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Paisley’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Paisley’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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People over time

Paisley, census by census

010020030018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 350

Peaked at 350 in 1990; 250 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How Paisley came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Paisley.

Read it all →

There are two theories regarding the origin of the name "Paisley". One story says that Charles Mitchell Innes, from Scotland, named the place for Paisley in his home country, in about 1873. Another informant stated that the place was named by Samuel G. Steele, also a native of Scotland. Steele was the first postmaster of the Paisley post office, which was established in 1879. The city was incorporated on November 18, 1911, and is one of only two cities in the county.

Archeological sites from the 1930s at Paisley Caves and 1966 at Fort Rock give the oldest known evidence for early Native Americans. Radiocarbon dating of coprolites indicate they are from 12,750 to 14,290 years before the present.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Paisley, 1879 to 1990

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1879Post officeThe Paisley post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1966On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1990CensusPopulation peaks at 350
By decade

Paisley, decade by decade

Today3 recent
Paisley - DPLA - 42855c4096218625abdfd1d8241e8e442013Paisley - DPLA - 42855c4096218625abdfd1d8241e8e44Paisley - DPLA - 120c220a835ed8d735cd6e3a7dbf68c92013Paisley - DPLA - 120c220a835ed8d735cd6e3a7dbf68c9Paisley, OR - cattle2008Paisley, OR - cattle
On the map

Paisley on the map, 1966 to 2004

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

Paisley on the 1966 USGS mapPaisley on the 1980 USGS mapPaisley on the 2004 USGS map1966Paisley 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 Paisley.

Questions about Paisley’s history

What year was Paisley founded?

The Paisley post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1911.

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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 (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.