Astoria is a port city and the seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Take a look below for 25 amazing and interesting facts about Astoria, Oregon, United States.

1. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state of Oregon and was the first American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains.

2. The county is the northwest corner of Oregon, and Astoria is located on the south shore of the Columbia River, where the river flows into the Pacific Ocean.

3. The city is named for John Jacob Astor, an investor and entrepreneur from New York City, whose American Fur Company founded Fort Astoria at the site and established a monopoly in the fur trade in the early nineteenth century.

4. Astoria was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on October 20, 1876.

5. The city is served by the deepwater Port of Astoria.

6. Transportation includes the Astoria Regional Airport. U.S. Route 30 and U.S. Route 101 are the main highways, and the 4.1-mile (6.6 km) Astoria–Megler Bridge connects to neighboring Washington across the river. The population was 9,477 at the 2010 census.

7. During archeological excavations in Astoria and Fort Clatsop in 2012, trading items from American settlers with Native Americans were found, including Austrian glass beads and falconry bells.

8. The present area of Astoria belonged to a large pre-historic, native American trade system of the Columbia Plateau.

9. The Lewis and Clark Expedition spent the winter of 1805–1806 at Fort Clatsop, a small log structure southwest of modern-day Astoria. The expedition had hoped a ship would come by that could take them back east, but instead they endured a torturous winter of rain and cold.

10. They later returned overland and by internal rivers, the way they had traveled west. Today the fort has been recreated and is part of Lewis and Clark National Historical Park.

11. In 1811, British explorer David Thompson, the first person known to have navigated the entire length of the Columbia River, reached the partially constructed Fort Astoria near the mouth of the river.

12. He arrived two months after the Pacific Fur Company’s ship, the Tonquin.

13. The fort constructed by the Tonquin party established Astoria as a U.S., rather than a British, settlement and became a vital post for American exploration of the continent. It was later used as an American claim in the Oregon boundary dispute with European nations.

14. The Pacific Fur Company, a subsidiary of John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company, was created to begin fur trading in the Oregon Country.

15. During the War of 1812, in 1813, the company’s officers sold its assets to their Canadian rivals, the North West Company.

16. The fur trade would remain under British control until U.S. pioneers following the Oregon Trail began filtering into the town in the mid-1840s.

17. In 1846, the Oregon Treaty divided the mainland at the 49th parallel north, and the southern portion of Vancouver Island south of this line was awarded to the British.

18. Astoria operates under a council–manager form of city government. Voters elect four councilors by ward and a mayor, who each serve four-year terms.

19. It is claimed that the actor Clark Gable began his career at the Astoria Theatre in 1922.

20. The early 1960s television series Route 66 filmed the episode entitled “One Tiger to a Hill” in Astoria; it was broadcast on September 21, 1962.

21. A scene in “The Real Thing”—Episode 2 of Season 5 (in the 7th year) — of the television series Eureka (American TV series) was set in Astoria. The character Jo Lupo parks her vehicle in an unauthorized location while she is meditating on the oceanfront. A tow truck is called to remove the vehicle. A law enforcement officer whose shoulder clearly displays a patch that reads “Astoria, Oregon” speaks to Jo about the parking violation.

22. Shanghaied in Astoria is a musical about Astoria’s history that has been performed in Astoria every year since 1984.

23. Pop punk band The Ataris’ fourth album was titled So Long, Astoria as an allusion to The Goonies. A song of the same title is the album’s first track. The album’s back cover features news clippings from Astoria, including a picture of the port’s water tower from a 2002 article on its demolition.

24. Pop punk band Marianas Trench have an album titled Astoria. The band states the album was inspired by 1980s fantasy and adventure films, and The Goonies in particular. That film inspired the title, as it was set in Astoria, the album’s artwork, as well as the title of their accompanying US tour (Hey You Guys!!).

25. Astoria is featured as a city in American Truck Simulator: Oregon.