Bethel is an unincorporated

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 community in Polk County

Polk County, Oregon

Polk County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. The county is named for James Knox Polk, the 11th president of the United States. In 2010, its population was 75,403. The seat of the county is Dallas....

, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 at the base of the Eola Hills

Eola Hills

The Eola Hills are a range of hills northwest of Salem, Oregon, United States. They stretch from the community of Eola about north to Yamhill County.They are divided from the Salem Hills by the Willamette River at Eola....

 in Plum Valley. Bethel is considered a ghost town

Ghost town

A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...

 as the only remaining structure is a school, now serving as a church. The locale was named by the Rev. Glen O. Burnett for a Church of Christ in Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 where he had served as pastor. Bethel

Bethel

Bethel was a border city described in the Hebrew Bible as being located between Benjamin and Ephraim...

 is a common name for churches as it is a Hebrew

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

 word that means "house of god". After traveling with his family on the Oregon Trail

Oregon Trail

The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...

, Burnett settled on a Donation Land Claim

Donation Land Claim Act

The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 was a statute enacted by the United States Congress intended to promote homestead settlement in the Oregon Territory in the Pacific Northwest...

 in 1846. Burnett later rode circuit

Circuit rider

Circuit rider is a term originating from the United States for any professional who travels a regular circuit of locations to provide services, and has several specific applications:...

 to the surrounding area, preaching in nearby communities, including Rickreall

Rickreall, Oregon

Rickreall is an unincorporated community in Polk County, Oregon, United States. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Rickreall as a census-designated place . The census definition of the area may not precisely correspond to local understanding of the area with the...

.

Another settler, Dr. Nathaniel Hudson, came to the area in 1851 and founded a school, Bethel Academy, in 1852. Dr. Hudson moved to a new land claim in the Dallas

Dallas, Oregon

The city of Dallas is the county seat of Polk County, Oregon, United States. The population was 14,583 at the 2010 census.Dallas is located on Rickreall Creek, approximately 15 miles west of Salem, at an altitude of 325 feet above sea level...

 area in 1854 and the academy closed. In 1855 a new school named Bethel Institute was organized, and in 1856, the Oregon Territorial Legislature

Oregon Territorial Legislature

Oregon’s Territorial Legislature was a bicameral legislative body created by the United States Congress in 1848 as the legislative branch of the government of the Oregon Territory...

 officially chartered the institute as one of the earliest colleges in the state, which was later renamed Bethel College. Pioneer Jesse Applegate

Jesse Applegate

Jesse Applegate was an American pioneer who led a large group of settlers along the Oregon Trail to the Oregon Country. He took part in the early government of Oregon, and helped establish the Applegate Trail as an alternative route to the Oregon Trail.-Early life:Jesse Applegate was born in Henry...

, who was a friend of Burnett's from Missouri and who traveled in the same wagon train

Wagon train

A wagon train is a group of wagons traveling together. In the American West, individuals traveling across the plains in covered wagons banded together for mutual assistance, as is reflected in numerous films and television programs about the region, such as Audie Murphy's Tumbleweed and Ward Bond...

, was on the college's board of trustees. Bethel College had financial problems and in 1861 it merged with another Disciples of Christ

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

The Christian Church is a Mainline Protestant denomination in North America. It is often referred to as The Christian Church, The Disciples of Christ, or more simply as The Disciples...

 institution: Monmouth College. Following a series of further mergers and name changes, Monmouth College became known as Western Oregon University

Western Oregon University

Western Oregon University is a public liberal arts college located in Monmouth, Oregon, United States. It was originally established in 1856 by Oregon pioneers as Monmouth University. Subsequent names include Oregon Normal School, Oregon College of Education, and Western Oregon State College...

. The college building in Bethel was eventually dismantled.

The first store in Bethel was built in 1855, and the post office followed in 1865. At one time the town had a blacksmith

Blacksmith

A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...

 shop, carpentry shop, and a wagon shop. Bethel post office ran from 1865 to 1880. The town was located on the wagon road that went between Amity

Amity, Oregon

Amity is a city in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 1,614.-History:The town was established between 1848 and 1849 by Joseph and Ahio S. Watt, two brothers who had immigrated to Oregon over the Oregon Trail. Part of Joseph’s land claim became the...

 and Monmouth

Monmouth, Oregon

- History :Monmouth was settled in 1853 by a group of pioneers who made a point of allocating to build both a city and a "college under the auspices of the Christian Church" and proceeds from the sale of these lands were used to found Monmouth University. By the early 1880s the college fell on...

, but when a new narrow gauge railway line was built in the area, through Amity, Dallas and Independence

Independence, Oregon

Independence is a city in Polk County, Oregon, United States, on the west bank of the Willamette River along Oregon Route 51, and east of nearby Monmouth. It is part of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area...

, it bypassed Bethel and instead was routed through McCoy

McCoy, Oregon

McCoy is an unincorporated community in Polk County, Oregon, United States. It was named after the landowner Isaac McCoy. Its post office was established in 1879 with James A. Sears postmaster, and closed in 1968....

, a decision which contributed to Bethel's decline. The history of the still-standing former school building (pictured above) has not been determined.

External links

• Historic images of Bethel from Salem Public Library
• Bethel Cemetery