Sweet Home

History

Settlers first arrived in the Sweet Home Valley in the early 1850s. A community known as Buckhead developed near the mouth of Ames Creek and the South Santiam River. Buckhead was named after a saloon that featured a set of elk antlers on the gable end of its building. East of Buckhead, a community called Mossville developed with a store and post office. In 1874, the two communities merged to become one community called Sweet Home. In 1893, the city of Sweet Home was incorporated. The Santiam Wagon Road, a toll road connecting the Willamette Valley with central Oregon, was opened in 1865. The road extended from the Sweet Home Valley across the Santiam Pass in the Cascades to Camp Polk near Sisters. The Santiam Wagon Road was a vital means of supplying livestock and goods from western Oregon to central Oregon and transporting wool from east of the Cascades back to Willamette Valley woolen mills. Competition with railroads that extended south from the Columbia River into central Oregon and the newly opened McKenzie Pass Highway made the wagon road obsolete by the late 1930s. U.S. Route 20 was constructed across much of the same route as the Santiam Wagon Road. Sweet Home experienced significant growth during the 1940s due to the demand for timber from local forests. Further growth occurred when construction began on nearby Green Peter Dam in 1962 and continued as construction began on Foster Dam in 1966. During the 1980s, Sweet Home experienced a number of sawmill and plywood mill closures due to economic cycles, increased competition, increased productivity, and logging restrictions placed on nearby forests resulting from environmental concerns for endangered species. In response, community members sought out other economic development opportunities such as the Oregon…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. The intersection Oregon Route 228 and U.S. Route 20 occurs at the Western end of Sweet Home. The South Santiam River flows from Foster Reservoir along the northern city limits of Sweet Home. Ames Creek and Wiley Creek flow into the South Santiam River within the city limits. Sweet Home is built on a prehistoric petrified forest. In addition to fossil wood, the area includes a variety of agate, jasper, and other crystals and minerals. The abundant petrified wood at Holleywood Ranch (between Sweet Home and Holley, Oregon) was the subject of an episode of the Travel Channel program Cash and Treasures. The region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above . According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Sweet Home has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  1,177
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  1,069
• California/Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

  Aphelocoma californica (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  974
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  823
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  810
• Spotted Towhee

  Pipilo maculatus Swainson, 1827 · Aves
  784
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  772
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  737

Largest nearby schools

• Sweet Home High School
  High · Sweet Home · 684 students · 18.5:1 ratio
• Sweet Home Junior High School
  Middle · Sweet Home · 383 students · 18.2:1 ratio
• Foster Elementary School
  Elementary · Foster · 340 students · 22.7:1 ratio
• Sand Ridge Charter School
  Elementary · Lebanon · 317 students · 21.1:1 ratio
• Oak Heights Elementary School
  Elementary · Sweet Home · 316 students · 18.6:1 ratio
• Hawthorne Elementary School
  Elementary · Sweet Home · 311 students · 18.3:1 ratio
• Holley Elementary School
  Elementary · Sweet Home · 168 students · 21:1 ratio
• Sweet Home Charter School
  Elementary · Sweet Home · 138 students · 23:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.18 — 2025-11-23
  5 km SE of Amity, Oregon
• M 2.66 — 2024-08-30
  14 km ESE of Molalla, Oregon
• M 4.39 — 2022-10-07
  16 km ESE of Lacomb, Oregon
• M 2.7 — 2022-05-25
  4 km WNW of Molalla, Oregon
• M 2.61 — 2022-03-18
  16 km ESE of Lacomb, Oregon
• M 2.82 — 2021-07-23
  2 km W of Mehama, Oregon