Sheridan is a city in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. Platted in the 1860s when it received a post office, Sheridan was incorporated in 1880. In 1913, much of the town burned in a fire and a flood covered much of the community in 1964. The population of Sheridan as of the 2020 census was 4,639.
Located in the western part of the Willamette Valley, Sheridan is at the base of the Northern Oregon Coast Range along the South Yamhill River. Sheridan lies around 13 miles southwest of the county seat of McMinnville, along Oregon Route 18. This highway and Oregon Route 18 Business run east–west through Sheridan and nearby Willamina, parallel to the river. Sheridan Bridge is the only river crossing within Sheridan.
Sheridan's largest employer is Federal Correctional Institution, Sheridan, a federal minimum and medium security prison. Sheridan has a Mayor–council form of government, with daily operations run by a city manager. The community has its own school district, with a single traditional high school. The main events each year in town are Sheridan Days and the Mud Drags, both held in June. Sheridan was named in honor of the American Civil War general Philip Henry Sheridan.
History Absolem B. Faulconer laid out the plat for what became the city of Sheridan in the mid-1860s. This plat was recorded with the county on December 13, 1866. He had settled in the area in 1847. The Sheridan post office was established on April 4, 1866, with Absolem's brother Thomas serving as postmaster. By 1871, the town had grown to include two blacksmith shops, one church, one school, one hotel, one wagon shop, and two general stores. In October 1878, the Dayton, Sheridan and Grand Ronde Railroad, a narrow-gauge railway, reached the community.
Sheridan, a timber and farming community southwest of Portland and northwest of Salem, was incorporated in 1880. Sheridan was named for General Philip Sheridan, who was posted to Yamhill County and Fort Yamhill in the latter half of the 1850s to monitor the Native Americans at what is now the Grand Ronde Reservation west of the city. By 1894, Sheridan had grown to 400 residents, one bank, two hotels, three churches, and a flouring mill. At that time there was a daily train to the city as well as daily stage coach service from McMinnville, and a single wooden bridge over the river.
Agriculture was the main industry in Sheridan's early years. Around 1910, the main crops included hops, clover-seed, hay, potatoes, onions, and a variety of fruits including apples, prunes, and pears. In March 1910, 150 workers at a lumber yard owned by the Sheridan Lumber Company went on strike for higher wages. The strike was supported by Portland members of the Industrial Workers of the World who picketed employment agencies in Portland to prevent the company from hiring strikebreakers. The action was successful and the workers won a pay increase of twenty-five cents per day, . On July 18, 1913, a fire that destroyed most of the commercial district caused $300,000 in damage. Most of the buildings were rebuilt with brick within six months. On October 30, 1930, the Jesuits purchased an farm on a hill overlooking the city. There they started St. Francis Xavier's Novitiate, a school for training priests for the order. Opening in a new building and several existing farm buildings in 1931, St. Francis Xavier's added more buildings over the next several decades.
In 1932, the state built a highway through Sheridan from McMinnville to the Oregon Coast, which became Oregon Route 18 or the Salmon River Highway. With funds received through the Works Progress Administration, the current steel bridge across the South Yamhill River was built and opened in 1939. By 1940, agriculture was still a major industry, and the timber industry was growing in importance to the local economy. At that time the city had grown to a population of 1,008 people.
The state built a bypass around Sheridan and Willamina that opened in 1957 to carry Oregon Route 18 on the south end of the city. The old alignment through the center of town became Oregon Route 18 Business. Sheridan had its largest flooding in history on December 22, 1964. The South Yamhill overflowed its banks and isolated the town for two days. The Jesuits sold their training school in 1974 to the Delphian Foundation, who then opened The Delphian School at the site in 1976.
In 1989, a federal minimum and medium security prison called the Federal Correctional Institution opened on the south side of Sheridan. At that time, Sheridan had a population of around 2,500 people. Sheridan moved its city hall into the old railroad station in January 1993, and expanded the renovated building in 1995. The U.S. Census Bureau erroneously listed Sheridan's population as 3,570 in the 2000 Census after mis-listing the prison's population in the wrong census tract.Hartung v. Bradbury, 332 Or. 570, 33 P.3d 972 (2001) This error of about 2000 people was enough to throw off the state legislative districts beyond their margin of acceptance and the Oregon Supreme Court ruled the Secretary of State must re-draw the boundary lines to match the correct data.Bradbury gives court new map on redistricting. The Oregonian, November 29, 2001. Sheridan also counts the prison population as part of the city's official population. In December 2008, a two-alarm fire gutted the 1875 United Methodist Church in the city.
Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, is land and is water.
The South Yamhill River divides the city between north and south, and is prone to flooding the city. Deer Creek is the only other stream in the city. Sheridan is located in the western part of the Willamette Valley at an elevation of above sea level. The city lies at the foothills of the Northern Oregon Coast Range.
Surrounding cities include Willamina about to the west along Oregon 18B, Amity about due east, and McMinnville about to the northeast. Other communities include Ballston to the southeast, Shipley due west, the Gopher Valley to the north and east, and Bellevue to the northeast along Oregon 18. Sheridan is about one-and-a-half miles north of the Polk County line, with the county seat of Dallas approximately south of Sheridan.
Climate Sheridan, as part of the Willamette Valley, is within the Marine west coast climate zone. Summers in there are generally warm, but temperatures year-round are moderated by a marine influence from the Pacific Ocean. The city receives most of its precipitation during the mild to cool winter months, with the wettest period from November through March. Sheridan's average annual precipitation totals , with the wettest month coming in December. August is the warmest month with an average high temperature of , while December is the coolest month with an average high of . December is also on average the wettest month with . July is the driest month of the year, on average. The highest recorded temperature in Sheridan, , has occurred twice, on July 19, 1956, and August 8, 1981. Sheridan's lowest ever recorded temperature was on January 31, 1950.
Transportation
The city is served by two main roads, Oregon Route 18 and Oregon Route 18 Business. The business route, also known as Main Street, runs through downtown on the north side of the South Yamhill River and connects to Shipley and Willamina, to the west. The Sheridan Bridge on Bridge Street connects the two sides of the city across the river. The railroad has the only other bridge crossing the river in the city. Oregon Route 18 connects to McMinnville, the county seat, and beyond to the Portland metropolitan area to the east. Other major roads include Sheridan Street, Mill Street, Sherman Street, Cherry Hill Road, and Rock Creek Road.
Willamette & Pacific Railroad provides freight rail service to the city, but there is no passenger rail in the city. Sheridan does not have any public use airports, with McMinnville Municipal Airport as the closest public airport. One local private airport is Abba's Airport, but half the airstrip is now part of a solar farm while the other half appears inactive and overgrown. There is public transportation via Yamhill Community Action Partnership with a bus to McMinnville.
Economy
The economy of Sheridan includes agriculture, timber, manufacturing, and service sector employment. As of 2000, the Spirit Mountain Casino outside of the city employed the most people in the area with 1,000 employees. The federal prison was the largest employer in the city with 500 employees, followed by Liberty Homes with 100 employees at the manufactured homes builder. The closest hospital is the Willamette Valley Medical Center in McMinnville.
The commercial district is centered on Bridge and Main streets, with their intersection as the location of the only traffic signal in the city. There were 12 manufacturing companies in Sheridan, one commercial bank, and one savings and loan as of 2006. Sheridan also has one gas station, two grocery stores, one pharmacy, five restaurants, and two hardware stores among other businesses.
The Delphian School in unincorporated Yamhill County, near Sheridan, houses the offices of Delphi Schools and Heron Books."About Delphi Schools, Inc. " The Delphian School. Retrieved on December 27, 2010. "Delphian School 20950 SW Rock Creek Road Sheridan, Oregon 97378.""How to Contact Us ." Heron Books. Retrieved on December 27, 2010. "Postal Address: Heron Books 20750 SW Rock Creek Road Sheridan, OR 97378 USA
Government City police protection is provided under contract by the Yamhill County Sheriff's Office. The office maintains a substation at Sheridan's city hall. Sheridan Fire District provides fire protection to the city and more than of the surrounding area including neighboring Ballston. The district operates three fire stations, one in the city, and had 35 firefighters as of 1998.
Sheridan is a home rule charter city, with a mayor-council government. Cale George is the mayor, who heads the city council that includes six others, with the mayor voting to break ties. Council members and the mayor are elected to four-year terms. A city manager runs the daily operations of the city's government. City hall is located in the building that once served as the city's train depot.
Sheridan operates its own water and wastewater treatment systems, both built in 1949. Drinking water comes from the South Yamhill River and from springs on Stony Mountain to the north. Sheridan has two city parks, Sheridan City Park that includes a skatepark, and South Park along Oregon Route 18 that features a fishing pond. Additionally, there is the J. A. Art Hebert Memorial Plaza on Bridge Street near the river.
Demographics
2020 census As of the 2020 census, Sheridan had a population of 4,639. The median age was 38.1 years. 23.6% of residents were under the age of 18 and 16.6% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 99.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 96.5 males age 18 and over.
99.5% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.5% lived in rural areas.
There were 1,636 households in Sheridan, of which 32.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 45.5% were married-couple households, 18.1% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 27.0% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 25.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 1,732 housing units, of which 5.5% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 59.4% were owner-occupied and 40.6% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.9% and the rental vacancy rate was 4.3%.