BlockBefore

Vernonia, Oregon

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1940 and the latest in 1979. It stands in the Vernonia census division. It lies in ZIP code area 97064. It stands on Bear Creek. The Survey maps it on the Vernonia quadrangle. 2,374 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 630 feet above sea level.

Vernonia within Columbia County

On record in Vernonia

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 1 record

Population over time

3 figures

Vernonia grew from 2,228 to 2,374 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.

YearPeople Change
20002,228
20102,151-77 (-3%)
20202,374+223 (+10%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 17 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

43 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 43 fires within 5 miles of Vernonia between 1992 and 2019, burning about 13 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 2 were 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 burning13
Smoking7
Recreation and ceremony7
Equipment and vehicle use6
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2
Other causes2
Arson/incendiarism2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Firearms and explosives use1
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Natural1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreOregon Department of Forestry Salem HeadquartersLOUISIANA AVE #1
9 September 2007Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreColumbia City UnitSHEELY CREEK
6 September 2011Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreColumbia City UnitNEHALEM HWY S. #3
28 September 2017Debris and open burning2.6 acresOregon Department of Forestry Salem HeadquartersKIRK RD. #1
28 September 2002Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreColumbia City UnitPETERSON CROSSOVER RD #1
28 September 1999Smokingunder an acreColumbia City UnitSHORT ROAD #1
17 September 2007Debris and open burningunder an acreColumbia City UnitNEHALEM HWY N. #1
12 September 1996Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreColumbia City UnitREMINGTON

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Columbia County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 13 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 13 workings within 5 miles of Vernonia: 12 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
ArchibaldStonePast Producer
Crown ZellerbachStonePast Producer
Crown ZellerbachStonePast Producer
Crown Zellerbach Mansfield LookoutStonePast Producer
Crown Zellerbach New MansfieldStonePast Producer
Oak Ranch Pit 1 & 2StonePast Producer
Archibald PitStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Crown ZellerbachStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Crown ZellerbachStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Crown Zellerbach Mansfield LookoutStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Columbia County

Storms near this place

7 since 2007

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Vernonia in 7 storm reports between 2007 and 2021: 6 flood, 1 heavy rain. The reports record 1 death and 1 injury. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
December 2015FloodVernonia1 killed, 1 hurt, $2,305,000The Nehalem River near Vernonia flooded Vernonia resulting in evacuation of residents and damage to many buildings and vehicles. A bridge washed out on TImber Road and isolated the Glenwood Community. There was also significant flooding in St Helens, where 17 homes were evacuated, and many roads were damaged and closed. Highway 30 and the business district in Rainier also flooded. An elderly couple drove around a barrier of a closed road, and was swept away by high water. The man escaped through the sunroof of the vehicle, but the woman ended up drowning. Flooding and landslides cut off Western Columbia County.
December 2007FloodVernonia$36,000,000The Upper Nehalem River flooded near Vernonia, and did devastating damage to the city. Numerous homes were completely flooded, and many families were evacuated. Quite a few lost everything they had. NOTE: Damage estimates are for the entire Columbia county, with almost a third of the damage in the town of Vernonia.
December 2015FloodVernonia$824,000Flooding from the Nehalem River and Rock Creek in Vernonia resulted in evacuation of homes and the implementation of the Vernonia Emergency Command Center. Heavy rain resulted in a land slide that closed OR47 at mile marker 8.
December 2015FloodVernonia$124,000Heavy rain resulted in flooding of the Nehalem River near Vernonia, and several small streams in the area. The Timber Road Bridge over Gales Creek washed out north of Highway 6.
January 2021FloodVernonia-The Nehalem River near Vernonia (VENO3) rose above flood stage at 0215PST, crested at 12.17 feet, the fell below flood stage at 0345PST on the 13th. Flood stage is 12.0 feet.
November 2012FloodVernonia-Heavy rain caused the Nehalem River near Vernonia to overflow its banks and flood low lying areas. The Nehalem River crested at 13.4 feet, 1.4 feet above flood stage, on November 19th at 5 pm PST.
December 2007Heavy RainVernonia-Storm total precipitation was 11.00 inches.

Every storm recorded in Columbia County

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.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Corey Hill0.7 miles17
Treharne1.8 miles17
Pittsburg3.6 miles16
Clear Creek5.9 miles16
Keasey7.2 miles16
Mist10.1 miles16
Chapman11.2 miles17
Neverstill11.4 miles16

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 VernoniaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q384747The 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 1128526. 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.