Philomath, Oregon
23 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1913 and the latest in 1980. It stands in the Corvallis census division. It lies in ZIP code area 97370. It stands on Buttermilk Creek. The Survey maps it on the Corvallis quadrangle. 5,350 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 279 feet above sea level.
On record in Philomath
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 5 records
George W. Bethers Houselisted 1997
Charles King Houselisted 1990
Isaac King House and Barnlisted 1975
Watson-Price Farmsteadlisted 2005- Philomath Collegelisted 1972
Population over time
3 figuresPhilomath grew from 3,838 to 5,350 between 2000 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 3,838 | |
| 2010 | 4,584 | +746 (+19%) |
| 2020 | 5,350 | +766 (+17%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
12 surveys from 23 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1913 USGS Philomath quadrangle1:31680
- 1921 USGS Corvallis quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1942 USGS Corvallis quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1953 USGS Salem quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Salem quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Corvallis quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Salem quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Salem quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS Salem quadrangle1:250000
- 1969 USGS Corvallis quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1975 USGS Corvallis quadrangle1:24000
- 1980 USGS Corvallis quadrangle1:100000
What the histories say of this town
369 words1 chapter about Philomath from the published histories of the county, public domain and reproduced complete.
| Chapter | From | Length |
|---|---|---|
| History | History of Benton County, Oregon (1885) | 369 words |
Fires near this place
79 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 79 fires within 5 miles of Philomath between 1992 and 2020, burning about 50 acres in total. 5 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 33 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 14 |
| Smoking | 6 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5 |
| Natural | 5 |
| Fireworks | 4 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 3 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Other causes | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Oregon Department of Forestry Salem Headquarters | GARRETT LANE FIRE |
| 8 September 2001 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Philomath Unit | BLAKESLEY CREEK |
| 6 September 2013 | Natural | under an acre | Oregon Department of Forestry Salem Headquarters | DECKER RIDGE STRIKE |
| 27 September 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Oregon Department of Forestry Salem Headquarters | IRIS |
| 25 September 2002 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Philomath Unit | WREN BARREL |
| 25 September 2000 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Philomath Unit | OAK CREEK |
| 22 September 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Philomath Unit | MOUSE HILL |
| 20 September 2016 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Oregon Department of Forestry Salem Headquarters | BRUMFIELD LN |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 19 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 19 workings within 5 miles of Philomath: 12 past producers, 6 producers, 1 occurrence. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Platinum, Gold, Silver. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transtion Metals Corp | Platinum, Gold, Silver | Occurrence | ||
| Griffin Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Neuman Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Von Sild Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Wren Pit No. 1 | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Wren Pit No. 2 | Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Griffin | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Quarry | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Pit | Stone | Producer | ||
| Von Sild Quarry | Stone | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
6 since 2005Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Philomath in 6 storm reports between 2005 and 2014: 6 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2014 | Flood | Philomath | - | The Mary's River near Philomath reached flood stage of 20 feet at 830 AM PST on December 21st. The river crested at 20.45 feet, just 0.5 feet below the major flood category around 530 AM PST on December 22nd. |
| January 2009 | Flood | Philomath | - | Heavy rain combined with snowmelt runoff from the Coast Range caused the Marys River to overflow its banks and flood the lowlands. |
| December 2006 | Flood | Philomath | - | The Marys River near Philomath crested at 20.4 feet on the 15th; flood stage for this river is 20.0 feet. |
| January 2006 | Flood | Philomath | - | no account filed |
| January 2006 | Flood | Philomath | - | no account filed |
| December 2005 | Flood | Philomath | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Philomath | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1864767 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1147639. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.











