Corvallis

Corvallis (kor-VAL-iss) is a city and the county seat of Benton County in central western Oregon, United States. It is the westernmost city in the contiguous 48 states with a population larger than 50,000. The city was possibly named after early settler Mary Lloyd, but now the name is thought to be derived from French fur trappers' naming of Marys Peak after the Virgin Mary. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 59,922. Corvalli is the location of Oregon State University and Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. The town is bordered on the northwest by the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range, with a view of the Bald Hill of Bald Hill providing a 360-degree view of Oregon. It has a total area of 14.30 square miles (30.30 km) and a total population of 14,30,000 (6,000,000 people) The city is at 13132 feet (4,200 m) above sea level and is at the mouth of the Willamette River, which flows into the Oregon Gulf. It was incorporated as a city on January 29, 1857, and is located on the banks of the river. The name "Corv allis" is derived from the Latin meaning "heart of the valley" and means "the valley of the heart" or "the heart of" the valley. In 1853 the 5th Oregon Territorial Legislature met in Salem, where a petition was presented seeking to change the name of that city to either "Thurston" or 'Valena". At the same time, another petition was present seeking to. change thename of Salem to "CorVallis".

History

Corvallis is the primary city name, but also Adair Village are acceptable city names or spellings. The official name is Corvallis, Oregon. Joseph C. Avery took out a land claim at the mouth of Marys River, where it flows into the Willamette River, in June 1846. Avery's primitive 1846 dwelling was the first home within the boundaries of today's Corvallis. In 1851, Avery and William Dixon each granted back-to-back 40-acre (16 ha) land parcels from their land holdings for the establishment of a county seat. The city was possibly named after early settler Mary Lloyd, but now the name is thought to be derived from French fur trappers' naming Marys Peak after the Virgin Mary. In December 1853 the 5th Oregon Territorial Legislature met in Salem, where a petition was presented seeking to change the name of that city to either "Thurston" or "Valena" A faction within the deeply divided legislature sought to make CorVallis the capital of the Oregon Territory, and in December 1855 the 6th Territorial. Legislature initially convened there before returning to Salem later that month. The town which would eventually be selected as the permanent seat of state government. was incorporated as a city on January 29, 1857, and named after Marysville, a town located on the same stagecoach route as Corv allis. The name was changed after a heated debate in the Legislature in 1853. The current name of the city was adopted in 1858. CorvAllis was named after the Latin meaning "heart of the valley", from the Latin word for valley.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 14.30 square miles (37.04 km²) Temperatures are mild year round, with warm, dry, sunny summers and mild, wet winters with persistently overcast skies. Rainfall amounts can range from an average of 66.40 inches (1,687 mm) per year in the far northwest hills, compared to 43.66 inches per year at Oregon State University, which is located in the center of Corvallis. Winter snow is rare, but occasionally does fall, and amounts range between a dusting and a few inches that do not persist on the ground for more than a day. During the midwinter months after extended periods of rain, thick, persistent fogs can form, sometimes lasting the entire day. This can severely reduce visibility to as low as 20 feet (6.1 m). The fog often persists until a new storm system enters the area. This fog could be seen as a type of tule fog. The average annual low temperature is 42 °F or 5.6 °C, 4.2 °F (2.3 °C) less than that of Portland just 85 miles (137 km) to the north. Despite this, temperatures dropping far below freezing are still a rare event in the town. The town is located on the eastern edge of the Oregon Coast Range, with a small portion of the town inside of the range. Because of its close proximity to the coastal range, the town can experience slightly cooler temperatures, particularly in the hills, than the rest of the Willamette Valley.

Demographics

As of the 2010 U.S. Census, there were 54,462 people, 22,283 households, and 10,240 families residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 83.8% White, 7.3% Asian, 1.1% Black or African American, 0.69% Native American, 2.33% Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and 4.0% from two or more races. A 2003 study listed Benton County (of which Corvallis makes up the majority of the population) as the least religious county per capita in the United States. Only one in four people indicated that they were affiliated with one of the 149 religious groups the study identified. In 1903, a German-American religious leader who called himself Joshua, founded a movement which became known locally as the "Holy Rollers" The city lies in the middle of the Unchurched Belt, which is made up of several Pacific Northwest states. The city is the largest city of the Albany-CorVallis-Lebanon CSA, a Combined Statistical Area (CSA) with a combined population of 202,251 at the 2010 Census. The median income for a household in the CSA was $35,437, and the median income was $53,208 for a family. About 9.7% of families and 20.6% of the residents were below the poverty line, including 15.2% of those under age 18 and 6.0%.

Economy

Corvallis was ranked number 48 on the 100 best places in the US to live and launch a business by Fortune Small Business 2008. Oregon State University is the major local employer. The city launched a website to attract creative industry to the region. The National Clonal Germplasm Repository is a gene bank of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. The gene bank preserves temperate fruit, nut, and agronomic crops from around the world. It is located near the edge of the main downtown area. Other major employers include Samaritan Health Services, SIGA Technologies, Evanite Fiber, ONAMI, and HP Inc., which has a large printing research and development operation in the northeast area of town. The town was ranked as the second-best place in Oregon to launch abusiness, after Portland (number 6). Bend (number 87) and Eugene (number 96) were other Oregon localities ranked in the top 100. It was also ranked as one of the best places to live in the United States to raise a family. It has a population of 6,000 people, the third-largest city in Oregon after Portland and Eugene. It had a population growth rate of 3.7% in the year ending June 2008. It recorded a population increase of 1.2% from the year prior to the same period in the previous year, the highest rate of growth in the state of Oregon since 2002. It also had a growth rate in the first quarter of 2008, the second highest in the nation.

Arts and culture

The city is home to the Corvallis-OSU Symphony. The symphony is the oldest continuously operating orchestra in the state of Oregon. Other musical organizations include: the Willamette Valley Symphony, the Youth Symphony Association, and the Guitar Society. The city has a number of museums and other points of interest, including the Benton County Courthouse and the Audubon Society of CorVallis. It also has a public library and a farmers' market. The town is located on the Oregon Turnpike, which runs through the town of Bentonville. It is also the site of the annual Da Vinci Days festival and kinetic sculpture race, which was founded in 1972. It has a population of about 2,000. The community is also known for its art galleries, which include the Fairbanks Gallery and the Arts Center of Corvalls. The Corv allis area has a reputation for being a good place to live. It was named for the town's founder, William Benton, who was born in CorvAllis in 1875. The area is also home to a large number of historic buildings, such as the Oregon State Capitol and the Oregon Museum of Natural History. The downtown area is known as the "Heart of the Valley" because of its location in the heart of the valley, which dates back to the early 1800s. It's also the location of the Cor Vallis Fall Festival and the annual Arts Party in Central Park, which took place in September.

Sports

As the home of Oregon State University, Corvallis is the home for 17 NCAA Division I OSU teams (7 men's, 10 women's) in the Pac-12 Conference. Corv allis is also the home to the CorVallis Knights baseball team. The Knights play in the West Coast League, an independent collegiate summer baseball league with teams from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alberta. The OSU baseball team plays in the summer at OSU's Goss Stadium. The team is a member of the Pac 12 Conference, which is home to 17 Division I teams.

Parks and recreation

Corvallis is recognized as a Tree City USA. The city has at least 47 public parks within and adjacent to the city limits. The Avery Park Cross Country Course is located in the park. Beazell Memorial Forest, the largest park maintained by Benton County, is located 10 miles from the town. Vineyard mountain is also a popular destination for outdoor activities in Corvalli. The town is home to the Oregon State Beavers cross-country teams. It is also known as the "Tree City of Oregon" for its large number of trees and trees in the town's parks and forests. The largest park in the city is Willamette Park, which is located near the city's downtown area. It was built in the early 1900s and is one of the oldest parks in the state. It has been named a National Register of Historic Places since 1913. The park is also home to Oregon State University's Beavers Cross Country Team, which uses the park as a training ground. The Beavers use the park to train for the state's cross- country and track and field events. The state's largest park, Timberhill Natural Area, is also located in CorVallis and is a popular hiking and biking destination. It's home to a number of hiking trails, including the Timberhill Trail, which runs through the town of Timberhill. The Oregon State Forest Service maintains more than 100 acres of land for hiking and other outdoor activities. It also maintains a large park area called the Oregon National Forest.

Government

Helen Berg served as mayor of Corvallis for three terms from 1994 until 2006. The current mayor is Biff Traber, elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2018. The City Council is made of nine city councilors who represent their representative wards and are elected to two-year terms. The City Manager is appointed by the City Council and serves at the pleasure of the city Council. The city manager primary job is to run the administrative day-to-day operations of the City. The mayor is the head of the department that oversees the city council and the city manager's job is the chief of staff. The council is made up of nine members, with the mayor and the City Manager serving as the heads of the departments that the council and city manager oversee. The Mayor is elected to a four-year term, with a maximum term of eight years. The Council has the power to impeach the mayor if they feel it is in the city's best interests to do so. It can also remove the mayor from office if the mayor is found to be in breach of his or her duties. It is the only form of government in the state of Oregon that has a mayor who is not a member of the U.S. House of Representatives or the state's Senate. It also has a City Council/City Manager form ofgovernment. The first female mayor was Helen Berg, who served from 1994 to 2006. She was the longest-serving mayor of the town to date.

Education

Public schools in the city are administered by the Corvallis School District. Oregon State University and Linn-Benton Community College are also located in the town. The first school building was constructed in 1848 and put to use in 1850. The city has the highest education rate per capita of any city in the state of Oregon. The town is home to two acting high schools, Corv allis High School and Crescent Valley High School. It is also home to the Benton Center campus of Linn Benton Community College, which was established in the early 1990s. It was the first community college to open in Oregon in the late 1990s, and is now one of the state's top four colleges, with a population of more than 10,000. The school district also has two acting junior high schools and one acting senior high school, both of which are closed during the school year. It also has an acting middle school, Crescent Valley Middle School, and an acting elementary school, which are both closed at the end of the year. The high school has been closed since the start of the 2011-2012 school year, and the acting high school was closed in 2012-2013. It has been claimed that the city has a higher education rate than any other city in Oregon. In the first decade of the 21st century, local boosters claimed the city had the highest per capita education rate of any Oregon city. The state's highest per-capita education rate was in the 1990s and 2000s.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Corvallis, Benton County, Oregon = 84. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 60. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 30. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Corvallis = 3.1 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 59,922 individuals with a median age of 31.5 age the population grows by 6.92% in Corvallis, Benton County, Oregon population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 4,143.12 residents per square mile of area (1,599.64/km²). There are average 2.23 people per household in the 21,797 households with an average household income of $40,230 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 7.00% of the available work force and has dropped -8.67% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 15.66%. The number of physicians in Corvallis per 100,000 population = 284.9.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Corvallis = 42.2 inches and the annual snowfall = 6.4 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 149. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 159. 81 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 33.2 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 67, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Corvallis, Benton County, Oregon which are owned by the occupant = 42.94%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 33 years with median home cost = $239,980 and home appreciation of -5.24%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $11.21 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $4,197 per student. There are 23.2 students for each teacher in the school, 4517 students for each Librarian and 502 students for each Counselor. 7.02% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 28.64% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 24.36% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).