Pendleton is a city and the county seat of Umatilla County, Oregon. The population was 17,107 at the time of the 2020 census, which includes approximately 1,600 people who are incarcerated at Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution. Take a look below for 15 awesome and interesting facts about Pendleton, Oregon, United States.
1. Pendleton is the smaller of the two principal cities of the Hermiston–Pendleton Micropolitan Statistical Area.
2. This micropolitan area covers Morrow and Umatilla counties and had a combined population of 92,261 at the 2020 census.
3. A European-American commercial center began to develop here in 1851, when Dr. William C. McKay established a trading post at the mouth of McKay Creek.
4. A United States Post Office named Marshall (for the owner, and sometime gambler, of another local store) was established April 21, 1865, and later renamed Pendleton, after politician and diplomat George H. Pendleton (1825–1889), who served as a U.S. Representative and Senator from Ohio.
5. The city was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on October 25, 1880.
6. By 1900, Pendleton had a population of 4,406 and was the fourth-largest city in Oregon. The Pendleton Woolen Mills and Pendleton Round Up became features of the city captured in early paintings by Walter S. Bowman.
7. Like many cities in Eastern Oregon, where thousands of Chinese immigrant workers built the transcontinental railroad, it had a flourishing Chinatown that developed as the workers settled here.
8. The sector is supposed to have been underlain by a network of tunnels, which are now a tourist attraction.
9. The authenticity as a Chinese tunnel system has been questioned.
10. The town is the cultural center of Eastern Oregon. Pendleton’s “Old town” is listed as a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.
11. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) have their property nearby.
12. They have established the Wildhorse Resort & Casino and golf course on the reservation to generate revenue for development and welfare. They have also built the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, for education and interpretation of their cultures.
13. In addition to the woolen mills, Pendleton is also famous for its annual rodeo, the Pendleton Round-Up.
14. The Festival of Trees is held in early December each year. It is a fundraising event produced by the St. Anthony Hospital Foundation.
15. The Heritage Station Museum operated by the Umatilla County Historical Society is located in the historic 1909 Pendleton Train Depot. The museum offers two galleries covering regional and local history as well as a one room schoolhouse, family cabin, caboose, barn , and signal house.
