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Cape Blanco LighthouseCape Blanco Lighthouse · Photo: Bureau of Land Management · CC BY-SA 2.0
BHistory
History · Port Orford

Port Orford’s post office opened in 1855, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 61% of U.S. towns. What drives it

3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 5 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1954 on, and the census since 1860.

1855first post office
3on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Port Orford’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Port Orford began

When was Port Orford founded?

1855

The Port Orford post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1911.

First census: 146 in 18602020 census: 1,146171 years

How historic is Port Orford?

B

More historic than 61% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Port Orford post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1911.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Port Orford’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Port Orford is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Port Orford’s overall grade.
Founding era1855, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194011.4% of homes (±5.8) · typical OR town 5.3% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register3 listings, 7 historic buildings, 71.0 per 10,000 residents · typical OR town 2.9 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 61%
NewerOlder

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 Port Orford’s 71.0 sits above most of its state (91% of Oregon towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1911.

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 Port Orford’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.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1860 and 1870, then grew more than tenfold.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Port Orford’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Port Orford’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 viewUntitled photo: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Port Orford, census by census

02004006008001,0001,200190019502000146 in 1860Low: 100

Lost a third of its people between 1860 and 1870, then grew more than tenfold.

16 censuses, 1860–2020.

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

The story

How Port Orford came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Port Orford.

Read it all →

Before the arrival of European settlers, the Port Orford area was inhabited by the indigenous Tututni people. The Tututni languages were a part of the Pacific Coast Athabaskan language family.

Spanish explorer Bartoleme Ferrelo mapped Cape Blanco in 1543. It remained the farthest north point on the coastal map until 1778, when British explorer Captain Cook found land farther west. Captain George Vancouver sighted land and named it Port Orford in 1792. In June 1851, Captain William Tichenor, in command of the U.S.S. Seagull, pulled into Port Orford, leaving behind nine men. Fort Orford, a U.S. Army fort, was established 14 Sep 1851 near the town and lasted until 22 Aug 1856.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Port Orford, 1855 to 1988

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1855Post officeThe Port Orford post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1942In the archiveUntitled photo
  5. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1960CensusPopulation peaks at 1,171
  7. 1988Born hereCory Kendrix is born here
By decade

Port Orford, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1940s1 item
Untitled photo1942Untitled photo
1950s–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
Today11 recent
Seaside landscape and Pacific Ocean view from Port Orford, Oregon2018Seaside landscape and Pacific Ocean view from Port Or…Landscape along the Pacific Ocean, south of Port Orford, Oregon2018Landscape along the Pacific Ocean, south of Port Orfo…Landscape along the Pacific Ocean, south of Port Orford, Oregon2018Landscape along the Pacific Ocean, south of Port Orfo…Landscape along the Pacific Ocean, south of Port Orford, Oregon2018Landscape along the Pacific Ocean, south of Port Orfo…Landscape along the Pacific Ocean, south of Port Orford, Oregon2018Landscape along the Pacific Ocean, south of Port Orfo…Landscape along the Pacific Ocean, south of Port Orford, Oregon2018Landscape along the Pacific Ocean, south of Port Orfo…Oregon's rocky Pacific Ocean shoreline, south of Port Orford2018Oregon's rocky Pacific Ocean shoreline, south of Port…Moonrise2015MoonriseSkunk Cabbage2009Skunk CabbagePrehistoric Forest2003Prehistoric ForestPrehistoric Forest2003Prehistoric Forest
On the map

Port Orford on the map, 1954 to 1992

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

Port Orford on the 1954 USGS mapPort Orford on the 1962 USGS mapPort Orford on the 1992 USGS map1954Coos Bay sheet · 1:250,000

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

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.

Untitled photo
Retake this viewUntitled photo, 1942

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

3 historic places in Port Orford

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

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
7
each building in a district counts
first listed
1998
Port Orford Coast Guard Station
Port Orford Coast Guard StationPeter John Lindberg HousePort Orford City Jail
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

20th Century Revivals1
Cape Cod Colonial1
Early 20th Century American Movements1
Craftsman1
All 3 listings
Port Orford Coast Guard StationDistrict · listed 1998Peter John Lindberg HouseBuilding · listed 2015Port Orford City JailBuilding · listed 2025

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

Port Orford’s post office has been open since 1855.

Gone or out of use
Fort Orfordmilitary
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Port Orford
Buffington Memorial ParkTichenor

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

Questions about Port Orford’s history

What year was Port Orford founded?

The Port Orford post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1911.

How does Port Orford rank for history?

Port Orford is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns. 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 Port Orford?

Three places: the Port Orford Coast Guard Station (listed 1998), the Peter John Lindberg House (2015) and the Port Orford City Jail (2025).

How old are the homes in Port Orford?

11% of Port Orford’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.8 points), against a typical 5.3% for an Oregon town; the median home was built in 1972.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (5), the Library of Congress (7), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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) 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.