It also had a thriving agricultural economy, which is still significant. The area that was once “Thorp’s Town of Independence” is now known as “Old Town.”ĭue to its location on the Willamette River, Independence prospered as a port town, helped by its proximity to the rail lines that came through the area. He plotted out a town on the higher ground south of Ash Creek, which came to be known as “Henry Hill’s Town of Independence,” and the two towns were merged when they incorporated in 1885. Upon his return in 1867, he found that “Thorp’s Town of Independence” had been mostly destroyed by a flood in 1861. He staked a claim (and opened a store) just south of Ash Creek through the Donation Land Claim Act (a forerunner of the Homestead Act), and then left for the gold fields of California. ![]() Thorp founded a town when he arrived in 1845 on the west bank of the Willamette River, just north of Ash Creek. ![]() Independence, Oregon, (population 9,375) was founded (twice) in the Willamette River Valley by settlers who had traveled the Oregon Trail, departing from Independence, Missouri.
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