The City of Nehalem was the first center of culture, commerce and politics in the lower Nehalem River Valley. When the City was chartered in 1899 by an Act of the State Legislature, it already had a post office, church, general store, school, saw mill and tavern. During the first ten years of the 20th Century it added a bank, high school, telephone exchange, fish cannery and hotel. The new railroad across the river brought tourists and supplies from Portland and took local produce to distant markets. Boosters had asked the Army Corps of Engineers for jetties at the end of the Nehalem Bay since 1876. In 1909, local leaders formed the Port of Nehalem, then persuaded federal officials to pay half the cost of the construction of the two jetties. Find more information at nehalem.gov.
