"The original location of the seat of Columbia County is situated several miles north of Highway 30 at the water's edge."

Oregon State Archives - A 1940 Journey Across Oregon

ST. HELENS, 28.6 m. [West of Portland] (98 alt., 3,944 pop.), a river port, is also a market and court town. Its manufacturing plants produce insulating board, pulp and paper, lumber, and dairy products.

The site of St. Helens was first known as Wyeth's Rock for the early trader, Nathaniel Wyeth, who had built a temporary post here in 1834. Captain H. M. Knighton took up the site as a donation land claim and in 1847 laid out the town as a competitor of the newly established Portland, which he contemptuously referred to as "Little Stump Town." It is said that Knighton named the town both to honor his native city of St. Helens, England, and for the beautiful mountain that rises a few miles to the northeast. According to some early records the vicinity was also referred to as Plymouth Rock or Plymouth and the earliest election district established here was named the Plymouth precinct. The earliest school was established in 1853 by the Reverend Thomas Condon, a noted scientist, who later became professor of geology at the University of Oregon. He added to his small salary as pastor of the St. Helens Congregational church by his teaching. The KNIGHTON HOUSE, 155 S. 4th St., was built in 1847 with lumber shipped around Cape Horn from Bath, Maine. Many of the town's buildings, including the COLUMBIA COUNTY COURT HOUSE, at First St. on the river bank, are built of stone from local quarries.

Video (By Others...)

CLICK HERE to continue exploring the highway