Page "Silverton, Oregon" Paragraph 1

Unlike most small communities in Western Oregon in the nineteenth century, Silverton was laid out largely around its local environment.

Instead of the rigid north-south grid of the township and range system, in 1854, Silverton's founder Polly Coon Price, planned the town around a large old Oregon White Oak, locating the town square around it.

She named the town Silverton after Silver Creek, which flowed by the several hundred yards to the west of the oak.

The tree had been a meeting spot along the Santiam Trail for the local Native Americans.

Silverton is located on the eastern edge of the Willamette Valley, at the base of the Waldo Hills, which are foothills of the Cascade Range.