Harlan is an unincorporated community in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States, about 30 miles west of Corvallis.^[1] It is located in a valley of the Central Oregon Coast Range in the Siuslaw National Forest.^[2] The community's economy was once based on logging and sawmills.^[3] Cattle ranching is another mainstay of the local economy.^[4][5]

James R. Harlan helped establish a post office at this locale and the office was named for him.^[6] Harlan post office ran from 1890 until 1968; Harlan was the first postmaster.^[6] Harlan Cemetery was also founded in 1890.^[7]

In 1915, Harlan had a public school and a population of 200.^[8] A new school and a store were built in 1926.^[7] Harlan School closed in 1967 and students then attended school in Eddyville.^[7] The store, which housed the post office and was also a gas station, closed in 1971 and is now a private residence.^[3][8] In 1993, author Ralph Friedman reported that there was "nothing much" in Harlan.^[9] Chapel of the Valley church, built in 1961, still serves a congregation.^[5][7] The last commercial sawmill in Harlan shut down in the early 1980s.^[7] As of 2008, a small one-man hobby sawmill still operated.^[4]

• Gallery of Harlan images Archived 2011-07-14 at the Wayback Machine from the Corvallis Gazette-Times
• Historic images of covered bridges in the Harlan area from Salem Public Library
• Images of the Harlan area from Flickr

44°32′23″N 123°41′35″W / 44.539842°N 123.693165°W / 44.539842; -123.693165

This Lincoln County, Oregon state location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e