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Welcome to Key to the City's page for Baker Baker County, Oregon Zip Code once known as "Queen City of the Mines" The Oregon state capital is Salem. What would you like to know about Baker Statistics & Facts Location History & History-related items City Attractions Baker Business Directory. Baker Chamber of Commerce. Baker Organizations, Churches, and Sports. Zip Codes 97814 Return to Index Statistics & Facts The population of Baker is approximately 9,140 (1990). The approximate number of families is 4,052 (1990). The amount of land area in Baker is 17.612 sq. kilometers. The amount of surface water is 0 sq kilometers. The distance from Baker to Washington DC is 2276 miles. The distance to the Oregon state capital is 275 miles. (as the crow flies) Baker is positioned 44.77 degrees north of the equator and 117.83 degrees west of the prime meridian. Return to Index Location Baker location: in eastern Oregon Return to Index History & History Related Items Baker history: "One of the owners of the Virtue Mine, Col. J. S. Ruckles, had begun looking for a site with water access to operate an ore processing mill for his mine. He located a site on the Powder River, about eight miles southwest of the mine. It was at this spot that Baker City was born.Baker City, famous as a distribution and trade center, was established in 1864 and in June, 1868, an election was held with Baker being chosen as the county seat and county name. Both were named for Col. Edward Dickinson Baker, U.S. Senator from Oregon, and the only member of Congress to die in the Civil War.A mail route was established in 1866, linking the two major mining towns of Eastern Oregon - Baker City and John Day. A mercantile store was established by A.H. Brown, a saloon followed. The Western Hotel was built on Front Street in 1865, and was the headquarters for the overland stage that came through Baker five times per week. The Bedrock Democrat, the city's first newspaper, was printed in 1870.In October of 1874, Baker City was incorporated. Baker City called itself the "Queen City of the Mines," and was the center for mining commerce in Northwest Oregon.Coast-to-coast transportation became available when the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company line arrived in Baker on August 19, 1884, and then joined the Union Pacific at Huntington.The logging boom began five years later when David Eccles founded the Oregon Lumber Company and the Sumpter Valley Railroad. The company built the narrow-gauge Sumpter Valley Railroad which was nicknamed the "Stump Dodger," and ran from Baker City to Prairie City, 80 miles to the south. The railroad hauled lumber, passengers, cattlemen, prospectors, and loggers. It continued to carry passengers and mail until 1937, and afterwards only logs until 1946. It was later abandoned in 1947.Schools, newspapers, opera houses and churches were established early in Baker County with an elementary school system in 1862. The Bedrock Democrat in 1870, Rust's Opera House in the 1870's and the Catholic Church in 1871.At the turn of the century, Baker City became known as the "Queen City of the Inland Empire," with elegant restaurants in fine hotels, and the Baker Theatre opera house was often filled to capacity for road-show compnay productions. All night saloons, gambling houses and hurdy-gurdy dance halls were crowded with gamblers, miners, ranchers, cowboys and sheepherders. Salvation Army members would march along Main Street, playing their instruments and preaching to the customers of the saloons and houses of ill repute.Baker City also had a sizable Chinese population. The Chinese came to the Baker City area to work in the mines and to build water systems for the mills that serviced the mines. After the mining activity slowed, the Chinese worked as house servants and operated laundries and eating places. They had their own cemetary east of Baker City, but in the early years of this century all the remains were disinterred and returned to China.Eastern Oregon was in its second mining boom between 1890 and 1910, and the mines financed many of the fine brick, masonry and stone commercial buildings and homes that still grace the city. The Hotel Warshauer was completed in 1889. It had 70 rooms and a richly furnished interior, including a dining room which had a seating capacity of 200. It was an elegant hotel with many mining entrepreneurs from across the United States staying there while visiting the area and making deals.A major fire destroyed most of the west side of Main Street in 1888. Brick buildings were built to replace the razed structures. A master stonemason, John Jett, had expanded his business from rock foundations and ornamentation to entire stone buildings. City Hall was built in 1903, St Francis Cathedral in 1905, the Carnegie Library in 1909, the County Courthouse in 1`909, the Pythian Castle in 1907, the Oddfellows Lodge in 1907, the Rand Building in 1908, the Post Office in 1910 and the YMCA in 1912" Some of the history contained herein is the copyright property of Telfax Inc., La Grande, O regon The founding of Baker: 1864 The incorporation date of Baker: October 1874 Return to Index Attractions Baker attractions: Baker County Visitor Center for information about all the surrounding area. 490 Campbell Street Toll-free: 800 523-1235 National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center at Flagstaff Hill P.O. Box 987 Baker City, Oregon 97814 Return to Index Contribute information free or for a small service charge for this community or any other community in the USA Be sure to include the name of the community and its state when contacting Key to the City as you are NOT directly contacting this community. Learn how to advertise on Key to the City Choose a new community in the state of Oregon To go to a new state, choose the States page To choose another state, go to the State page. Return to the Top USA City Directory and US City Resource Guide - Key to the City Thanks for visiting Key to the City. Come back again! We'll leave the light on for you! The information on Key to the City is from multiple sources including government, commerce, libraries, individuals and organizations. There is no guarantee of the accuracy or timeliness of the information presented on these pages, therefore, please use at your own risk.   Web www.usacitiesonline.com

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