History

The first town hall was formerly the center section of a two-story school building built in 1867-68. It was carefully detached from two single story wings on each side of the structure and moved to a location on South Main Street behind the Netherwood Block Building in 1895.

n 1922, a 24-hour service was established in the village with cooperation of the Business Men’s Club. Before this, someone patrolled the village only during the nighttime hours.

The first post office was established in 1848 with Egbert Bennett as the first postmaster.

In 1925, the fire department put their first motor driven fire equipment into use. The cost was $3,000.

Steve Madsen’s Home Owned Store was located on Main Street in Oregon. In the past this was the location of Cronk’s Opera House, and today is the site of the Firefly Coffeeshop.

The first hotel in Oregon is the EXCHANGE HOTEL, which was built in 1845 on the south side of the square. This business failed and the hotel was then purchased by Richard Chandler. It became known as the CHANDLER HOTEL.