Brookings, Oregon

Brookings, Oregon
City

Brookings Harbor and the mouth of the Chetco River

Flag
Motto: Where flowers meet the sea

Location in Oregon
Brookings, Oregon

Location in the United States

Coordinates: 42°3′27″N 124°17′11″W / 42.05750°N 124.28639°W / 42.05750; -124.28639Coordinates: 42°3′27″N 124°17′11″W / 42.05750°N 124.28639°W / 42.05750; -124.28639
Country United States
State Oregon
County Curry
Incorporated 1951
Government
 • Mayor Ron Hedenskog
Area[1]
 • Total 3.94 sq mi (10.20 km2)
 • Land 3.87 sq mi (10.02 km2)
 • Water 0.07 sq mi (0.18 km2)
Elevation 129 ft (39 m)
Population (2010)[2]
 • Total 6,336
 • Estimate (2012[3]) 6,316
 • Density 1,637.2/sq mi (632.1/km2)
  U.S. Census
Time zone Pacific (UTC-8)
 • Summer (DST) Pacific (UTC-7)
ZIP code 97415
Area code(s) 458 and 541
FIPS code 41-08650[2]
GNIS feature ID 1138655[4]
Website www.brookings.or.us

Brookings is a city in Curry County, Oregon, United States. It was named after John E. Brookings, president of the Brookings Lumber and Box Company, which founded the city in 1908. As of the 2010 census the population was 6,336.[5]

History

Founding

In 1906, the Brookings Timber Company hired William James Ward, a graduate in civil engineering and forestry, to come to the southern Oregon Coast and survey its lumbering potential. After timber cruising the Chetco and Pistol River areas for several years, he recommended that the Brookings people begin extensive lumbering operations here and secure a townsite for a mill and shipping center.[6]

While John E. Brookings was responsible for the founding of Brookings as a company town, it was his cousin Robert S. Brookings, who was responsible for its actual design. The latter Brookings hired Bernard Maybeck, an architect based in San Francisco who was later involved in the Panama–Pacific International Exposition, to lay out the plat of the townsite.[7]

World War II

Main article: Lookout Air Raids

On September 9, 1942, Mount Emily, near Brookings, became the first site in the continental United States to suffer aerial bombardment in wartime. A Japanese floatplane piloted by Nobuo Fujita launched from submarine I-25 was loaded with incendiary bombs and sent to start massive fires in the dense forests of the Pacific Northwest.[8][9] The attack caused only minor damage. Fujita would be invited back to Brookings in 1962 and he presented the town his family's 400-year-old samurai sword in friendship after the Japanese government was given assurances that he would not be tried as a war criminal. Brookings made him an honorary citizen several days before his death in 1997.

1980s onwards

Since the 1980s, Brookings has attracted retirees, largely from California, who have come to form a sizeable minority of the population. It is also home for a number of people who commute to jobs in California at nearby Pelican Bay State Prison, as well as to Silicon Valley, utilizing the three daily round trip flights to San Francisco from the airport 25 minutes south at Crescent City.

Recent

The total population of the Brookings area is over 13,000, which includes Harbor (a census-designated place), and others. There have been numerous proposals to annex the nearby unincorporated areas into Brookings; while most attempts failed over the years, one large area north of town owned by Borax has succeeded. This development has the potential to add approximately 1,000 homes over the next 20 years, although developers expect many of them to be occupied only seasonally. The unincorporated community to the south of the Chetco River, while included in the Brookings Urban Growth Boundary, has resisted annexation into the City of Brookings. There development can occur without annexation, as Harbor is independently served by independent urban fire, water and sewer districts. Included within the urban growth boundary in Harbor is the Harbor Hills, an ocean-view ridge of 1500+ acres, on which a mixed-use hill town of several thousand homes has been planned. It is to be based on the models in Provence, Tuscany, and on the work of Bernard Maybeck, the original designer of Brookings.

The current marketing "brand" for the community, through the Brookings-Harbor Chamber of Commerce,[10] is "The Pulse of America's Wild Rivers Coast". America's Wild Rivers Coast is a regional marketing brand for Curry County, Oregon, and Del Norte County, California.[11]

2011 tsunami

The Port of Brookings Harbor was damaged by tidal surges from a tsunami on March 11, 2011.[12] The largest surge was estimated to be nearly 8 feet (2.4 m).[13] Boats were damaged, sunk, set adrift, and swept out to sea after many docks were torn away and pilings broken.[13][14] The tsunami was caused by the 9.0 MW[15] Tōhoku earthquake offshore of the east coast of Honshu Island, Japan. The damage was estimated at $25 million to $30 million.[12]

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.94 square miles (10.20 km2), of which 3.87 square miles (10.02 km2) is land and 0.07 square miles (0.18 km2) is water.[1]

Climate

Brookings has temperate winters during which intense rainfall is broken by weeks of warm, sunny weather. It has mild, dry summers with average rainfall in July and August of less than 1 inch (25 mm) per month. There are an average of only two days annually with high temperatures of 90 °F (32 °C) or higher and an average of 7.5 days with low temperatures of 32 °F (0 °C) or lower. The record high temperature was 108.2 °F (42.3 °C) on July 9, 2008. The record low temperature was 18 °F (−8 °C).

The wettest year in Brookings was 1996 with 123.90 inches (3,147 mm) and the driest year was 1976 with 43.34 inches (1,101 mm). The most rainfall in one month was 36.90 inches (937 mm) in December 1996. The most rainfall in 24 hours was 8.79 inches (223 mm) on March 18, 1932. Snow is rare in Brookings, averaging only 0.7 inches (1.8 cm) per year, but 10 inches (25 cm) fell in January 1916.[16]

Due to its location, Brookings is subject to winter (and less frequently summer) temperatures considered unusually warm for the Oregon Coast or for that matter, the coast of Northern California north of Santa Cruz. Temperatures can reach 70 to 80 °F (21 to 27 °C) throughout the year. This is due in part to the marine influences from its location on the Pacific Ocean, but mostly from its situation at the foot of the Klamath Mountains, from which winds compress and warm the air flowing onto Brookings. This is called the Brookings effect or Chetco effect, similar to the warm dry Santa Ana winds of coastal Southern California. Daffodils and other bulbs generally bloom in February. In the lowlands, heavy fog is common in the summer while the coastal hills are generally sunny and cool.

Climate data for Brookings, Oregon, 1981−2010 normals, extremes 1914−present
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °F (°C) 78
(26)		 83
(28)		 83
(28)		 92
(33)		 99
(37)		 101
(38)		 108
(42)		 101
(38)		 103
(39)		 96
(36)		 85
(29)		 79
(26)		 108
(42)
Average high °F (°C) 55.4
(13)		 56.2
(13.4)		 57.6
(14.2)		 59.6
(15.3)		 63.0
(17.2)		 66.8
(19.3)		 67.8
(19.9)		 67.6
(19.8)		 67.7
(19.8)		 64.4
(18)		 57.9
(14.4)		 55.2
(12.9)		 61.6
(16.4)
Daily mean °F (°C) 48.8
(9.3)		 49.4
(9.7)		 50.2
(10.1)		 51.7
(10.9)		 55.0
(12.8)		 58.2
(14.6)		 60.1
(15.6)		 60.2
(15.7)		 59.5
(15.3)		 56.3
(13.5)		 51.2
(10.7)		 48.4
(9.1)		 54.1
(12.3)
Average low °F (°C) 42.3
(5.7)		 42.7
(5.9)		 42.7
(5.9)		 43.8
(6.6)		 47.0
(8.3)		 49.5
(9.7)		 52.4
(11.3)		 52.8
(11.6)		 51.2
(10.7)		 48.3
(9.1)		 44.5
(6.9)		 41.6
(5.3)		 46.6
(8.1)
Record low °F (°C) 21
(−6)		 24
(−4)		 29
(−2)		 31
(−1)		 32
(0)		 37
(3)		 39
(4)		 41
(5)		 39
(4)		 32
(0)		 28
(−2)		 17
(−8)		 17
(−8)
Average precipitation inches (mm) 11.84
(300.7)		 9.96
(253)		 9.43
(239.5)		 6.47
(164.3)		 3.85
(97.8)		 2.02
(51.3)		 0.43
(10.9)		 0.72
(18.3)		 1.39
(35.3)		 5.36
(136.1)		 11.24
(285.5)		 14.51
(368.6)		 77.22
(1,961.4)
Average snowfall inches (cm) 0.4
(1)		 0.2
(0.5)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0.7
(1.8)
Source: Western Regional Climate Center[17]

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop. %±
1920515—
1930250−51.5%
1940500100.0%
19501,000100.0%
19602,637163.7%
19702,7203.1%
19803,38424.4%
19904,40030.0%
20005,44723.8%
20106,33616.3%
Est. 20146,407[18]1.1%
source:[2][19]

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 6,336 people, 2,717 households, and 1,689 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,637.2 inhabitants per square mile (632.1/km2). There were 3,183 housing units at an average density of 822.5 per square mile (317.6/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 92.2% White, 0.3% African American, 1.8% Native American, 0.9% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.9% from other races, and 3.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.6% of the population.[2]

There were 2,717 households of which 26.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.7% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 37.8% were non-families. 31.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.81.[2]

The median age in the city was 46.9 years. 21.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 19.8% were from 25 to 44; 28% were from 45 to 64; and 24.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.7% male and 52.3% female.[2]

Arts and culture

Annual cultural events

Since 2006, the Winter Art & Chocolate Festival has been held at the Brookings-Harbor High School, featuring local and regional artists and chocolatiers the second weekend in February.

The Brookings Harbor Festival of the Arts began in 1993. It takes place the third weekend in August on the boardwalk at the Port of Brookings Harbor.

The largest celebration held each year is the Azalea Festival. According to the Brookings-Harbor Chamber of Commerce, it is, "a four-day community-wide festival featuring Art, Flower, Quilt and Car Shows; a Parade, Street Fair, Kiddie Carnival, Food Court, Beef BBQ, Party at the Port, and lots more throughout the Memorial Day Weekend." Each year, young women from the local high school compete in a scholarship pageant for the title of "Azalea Queen." The Azalea Queen participates in the parade and chooses a favorite entry from each of several of the shows that make up the festivities.

Education

Brookings is home to four primary and secondary schools and a community college satellite campus.

Public schools

Private school

Community college

Media

Newspaper

Radio

Infrastructure

Transportation

Air

Bus

Port

Notable people

References

  1. 1 2 "US Gazetteer files 2010". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 2012-07-14. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "American FactFinder". U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 2013-05-18. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Population Estimates". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 2013-06-17. Retrieved 2013-06-02.
  4. ↑ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  5. ↑ American FactFinder - Results
  6. ↑ "Brookings, a Live Community, Marks Once Bleak Spot of Dreary Desolation". Oregon Sunday Journal (Portland, Oregon). April 14, 2001 [May 3, 1914]. Republished by the Curry Coastal Pilot (Brookings).
  7. ↑ McCoy, Esther (1960). Five California Architects. New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation. p. 46.
  8. ↑ Oregon State Archives, Office of the Secretary of State
  9. ↑ GENE SLOVERS US NAVY PAGES Japanese Plane Bombed Oregon on September 9, 1942
  10. ↑ Welcome! | Brookings-Harbor Chamber Of Commerce
  11. ↑ Home Page - America's Wild Rivers Coast
  12. 1 2 Manning, Jeff; Brettman, Allan (March 12, 2011). "Brookings port destruction by tsunami is a blow Curry County cannot afford". The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon). Retrieved March 13, 2011.
  13. 1 2 Rice, Arwyn; Graves, Scott (March 12, 2011). "Tidal surges pummel port, sink boats". Curry Coastal Pilot. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
  14. ↑ Rasmussen, Randy L. (March 11, 2011). "Southern Oregon tsunami damage". The Oregonian. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
  15. ↑ "USGS analysis as of 2011-03-12". U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved March 13, 2011. Archived 13 March 2011 at WebCite
  16. ↑ "BROOKINGS 2 SE, OREGON - Climate Summary". Western Regional Climate Center. Desert Research Institute. Retrieved June 19, 2013.
  17. ↑ "BROOKINGS 2 SE, OREGON (351055)". September 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  18. ↑ "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2014". Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  19. ↑ Moffatt, Riley Moore (1996). Population History of Western U.S. Cities and Towns, 1850–1990. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 207. ISBN 978-0-8108-3033-2.
  20. ↑ Brookings - Homepage

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