BlockFrom the record
One of 40 National Register listings published here for Coos County · listed in 1985 · category: Building.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
Maj. Morton Tower House
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
- Listed as. Tower, Maj. Morton, House - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
- Address. 486 Schetter Ave., Coos Bay, 97420
- When was it listed? October 1985
- Category. building
- Census division. Coos Bay
- National Register reference number. 85003453 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Fires near this property
183 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 183 fires within 5 miles of Maj. Morton Tower House between 1992 and 2020, burning about 60 acres in total. 8 started naturally. 3 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 |
|---|---|
| Recreation and ceremony | 47 |
| Debris and open burning | 27 |
| Smoking | 25 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 22 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 19 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 15 |
| Fireworks | 9 |
| Natural | 8 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 3 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 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 2005 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Coos Forest Protective Association | NORTH SPIT |
| 8 September 2020 | Smoking | under an acre | Oregon Department of Forestry Salem Headquarters | LIBBY LANE |
| 8 September 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Oregon Department of Forestry Salem Headquarters | GRINNELL LANE |
| 7 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Oregon Department of Forestry Salem Headquarters | SECOND CREEK |
| 6 September 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Oregon Department of Forestry Salem Headquarters | IDA LANE |
| 28 September 1999 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Coos Forest Protective Association | KENTUCK WAY |
| 26 September 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Oregon Department of Forestry Salem Headquarters | OLIVE BARBER RD #2 |
| 25 September 2012 | Smoking | under an acre | Oregon Department of Forestry Salem Headquarters | MERRITT LAKE FIRE |
Mines and quarries near this property
10 of 35 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 35 workings within 5 miles of Maj. Morton Tower House: 17 past producers, 11 producers, 6 occurrences, 1 unknown. 11 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silica, Chromium, 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parker Magnet Process | Chromium, Iron | Occurrence | ||
| Parker Magnetic Process | Chromium, Iron | Unknown | ||
| Clay Pit | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Main Quarry and Plant | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Main Quarry and Plant | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Unnamed Pit | Clay | Producer | ||
| Burch | Chromium | Occurrence | ||
| Burch Deposits | Chromium | Occurrence | ||
| Charleston | Silica, Sand and Gravel, Construction | Occurrence | ||
| Coo-Sand Corp. | Silica, Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this property
2 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Coos Bay, the town this property stands in, in 2 storm reports between 1998 and 2016: 1 heavy rain, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Coos Bay | - | A spotter 2SSE Coos Bay reported that a wind gust estimated at 70-75 mph blew off shingles and caused widespread tree damage. Power lines were damaged by the winds and trees, and 13000 people were without power at one point. Time of the wind event was estimated. |
| March 1998 | Heavy Rain | Coos Bay | - | 3.55 inches rainfall in 24 hrs. |
Map coverage status
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 milesOther National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Tower-Flanagan House | under 500 feet | 1984 |
 | Tribal Hall of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians | 0.6 miles | 1989 |
 | Seelig-Byler House | 2.6 miles | 1994 |
| Liberty Theatre | 2.7 miles | 2023 | |
 | Hotel North Bend | 2.7 miles | 2005 |
| Mingus Park Community Building | 2.8 miles | 2025 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 85003453 in Record Group 79. |
| Coos County | All 40 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- 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.