Oysterville, Washington

Oysterville was founded in 1854 as an oyster fishing village. The small community is located along the Willapa Bay on the Long Beach Peninsula in Pacific County, Washington.

The United States and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Oregon on June 15, 1846, ending 28 years of joint occupancy of the Pacific Northwest. The treaty established the 49th parallel as the border between the two countries.

Congress formally established the  Oregon Territory  on August 14, 1848, which today are the states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

Two years after the Oregon Territory was established,  The Donation Land Act of 1850  was passed. This act created the Office of Surveyor-General of Oregon, provided for the public land surveys, and made donations of public lands available to settlers.

One of these settlers was named Isaac Alonzo Clark. In the summer of 1854, Clark and his business partner R.H. Espy settled on the edge of what was then called Shoalwater Bay. Chief Nahcati had recently lead Espy to the rich native oyster beds the Chinook Indians had been harvesting for generations.

Clark and Espy quickly set up a thriving business marketing the oysters to the miners of San Francisco returning to town after striking it rich. By 1855, the booming town of Oysterville was named the county seat.

The first survey of Oysterville would not happen until 1863. Below is the original survey plat overlaid with a contemporary Master Title Plat. Master Title Plats are large-scale graphic representations of federal ownership and rights reserved to the federal government on private land. To learn more about Master Title Plats click  here .

Long after he had named and platted Oysterville, Clark applied and eventually received a Donation Land Claim in 1865.

Over the next several decades Oysterville would continue to grow, adding a school, a newspaper, a church, and even a college. However, luck would eventually run out for the boomtown in the late 1880s. The railroad stopped short of Oysterville, the native oysters became depleted and the once-thriving fishery collapsed. The town even lost the county seat and eventually, lost the county records to the town of South Bend in a dramatic  Sunday morning raid .

The population of Oysterville dwindled, buildings fell into disrepair and the once-bustling streets were reclaimed by grasses or even the bay itself (now called Willapa).

Oysterville nearly became a ghost town, but a handful of structures were preserved, including the last school to be built, the church, and Espy's home, built in 1871. In 1976, the village was placed on the  National Register of Historic Places  and later recognized as a  Historic District. 

While the native oyster beds have been depleted, the Pacific Oyster was introduced in the 1920s. Oyster farming took hold. Willapa Bay now contributes to nearly  10% of the total U.S. production . Vespers are even still held at the church on Sundays during the summer months.

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