Bethel, Polk County, Oregon

Bethel is an unincorporated community in Polk County, Oregon, United States at the base of the Eola Hills in Plum Valley. Bethel is considered a ghost town as the only remaining structure is a school,cite book
last = McArthur
first = Lewis A.
authorlink = Lewis A. McArthur
coauthors = Lewis L. McArthur
title = Oregon Geographic Names
origyear = 1928
edition = Seventh Edition
year = 2003
publisher = Oregon Historical Society Press
location = Portland, Oregon
id = ISBN 0-87595-277-1
pages = 77 ] now serving as a church. The locale was named by the Rev. Glen O. Burnett for a Church of Christ in Missouri where he had served as pastor. Bethel is a common name for churches as it is a Hebrew word that means "house of god". After traveling with his family on the Oregon Trail, Burnett settled on a Donation Land Claim in 1846.cite web |url=http://ncbible.org/nwh/orhistbc.html |work= Pioneer History to about 1900: Churches of Christ & Christian Churches in the Pacific Northwest |title= Polk County: 1846-1855 |publisher= Northwest College of the Bible |accessdate=2008-03-14] cite web |url=http://ncbible.org/nwh/ProBurnett.html |title= Glen Owen Burnett |work= Pioneer History to about 1900: Churches of Christ & Christian Churches in the Pacific Northwest |publisher= Northwest College of the Bible |accessdate= 2008-03-14] Burnett later rode circuit to the surrounding area, preaching in nearby communities, including Rickreall.

Another settler, Dr. Nathaniel Hudson, came to the area in 1851 and founded a school, Bethel Academy, in 1852. Dr. Hudson moved to a new land claim in the Dallas area in 1854 and the academy closed. In 1855 a new school named Bethel Institute was organized, and in 1856, the Oregon Territorial Legislature officially chartered the institute as one of the earliest colleges in the state, which was later renamed Bethel College. Pioneer Jesse Applegate, who was a friend of Burnett's from Missouri and who traveled in the same wagon train, was on the college's board of trustees.cite web |url=http://ncbible.org/nwh/OrColA.html |title= The Colleges Founded Before 1898 |work= Pioneer History to about 1900: Churches of Christ & Christian Churches in the Pacific Northwest |publisher= Northwest College of the Bible |accessdate= 2008-03-14] Bethel College had finanical problems and in 1861 it merged with another Disciples of Christ institution: Monmouth College. Following a series of further mergers and name changes, Monmouth College became known as Western Oregon University. The college building in Bethel was eventually dismantled.

The first store in Bethel was built in 1855, and the post office followed in 1865. At one time the town had a blacksmith shop, carpentry shop, and a wagon shop. Bethel post office ran from 1865 to 1880. The town was located on the wagon road that went between Amity and Monmouth, but when a new narrow gauge railway line was built in the area, through Amity, Dallas and Independence, it bypassed Bethel and instead was routed through McCoy, a decision which contributed to Bethel's decline. The history of the still-standing former school building (pictured above) has not been determined.

Gallery

The Plum Valley area around Bethel.

References

External links

* [http://photos.salemhistory.org/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=all&CISOBOX1=Bethel%20Polk%20County&CISOFIELD1=descri&CISOOP2=exact&CISOBOX2=&CISOFIELD2=subjec&CISOOP3=any&CISOBOX3=&CISOFIELD3=descri&CISOOP4=none&CISOBOX4=&CISOFIELD4=audiena&CISOROOT=all Historic images of Bethel] from Salem Public Library
* [http://ncbible.org/nwh/Bethel.txt Bethel Cemetery]