Alpine, Oregon

Alpine is an unincorporated rural community in Benton County, Oregon, United States. It is west of Monroe off Oregon Route 99W.

History

According to "Oregon Geographic Names", Alpine was so named because it is on the top of one of the foothills of the Central Oregon Coast Range. It is noted that the "situation is not particularly alpine in character". Alpine School operated for several years before there was a settlement in the location, thus the community took its name from the school. In 1908 the Corvallis and Alsea River Railway Company began construction of a line that ended in the settlement of Alpine when funding ran out. According to "Mid-Willamette Valley Online", the community burned "three times since its heyday in the early 1900s." A post office was established in 1912 and operated until 1976. Alpine now has a Monroe mailing address. Alpine Elementary School closed in 2003. [http://www.gtconnect.com/articles/2005/12/08/news/community/thuloc01.txt] When the Alpine Market closed in 2004, the Alpine Tavern (built in 1936) started selling groceries. In 2005, a vintage photograph of the tavern was featured in a Miller Beer advertisement, and the market was due to be razed. [http://www.gtconnect.com/articles/2005/12/08/news/community/thuloc01.txt]

Points of Interest

Alpine is on the Benton County Scenic Loop, a scenic driving route. [http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.asp?trailid=XFA123-019]

To the west of Alpine is the Woodhall Vineyard, a research vineyard operated by Oregon State University. [http://wine.oregonstate.edu/?q=woodhall]

A community center operates out of the Alpine Elementary School building. The Alpine Community Center rents the school from Monroe School District for $1 per year. [http://www.mvbc.com/mvbc/Newsletters/newsletter-04-2006.pdf]

External links

* [http://photos.salemhistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/max&CISOPTR=3118&REC=15 1961 photo of Alpine from Salem Public Library]
* [http://boundless.uoregon.edu/cgi-bin/queryresults.exe?fg=0&CISOOP1=all&CISOBOX1=James+Cloutier&CISOFIELD1=relati&CISOOP2=exact&CISOBOX2=&CISOFIELD2=relati&CISOOP3=any&CISOBOX3=&CISOFIELD3=descri&CISOOP4=none&CISOBOX4=&CISOFIELD4=load&cisobox1=James+Cloutier&cisobox2=&cisobox3=&cisobox4=&CISOROOT2=%2FBestof James Cloutier photographs] from his 1977 book "Alpine Tavern: Photographs of a Social Gathering Place"
* [http://www.alpinecommunity.net/ South Benton Community Center]
* [http://www.mvourtown.com/today/index.html#alpine Mid-Willamette Valley Online: About Our Towns] (a publication of the Albany Democrat-Herald, Corvallis Gazette-Times, and the Lebanon-Express)