Gardiner: The White City by the Sea

Gardiner, Oregon sits on the north bank of the Umpqua River near where it meets the Pacific. The town owes its name to a Boston merchant named Gardiner whose ship, the Bostonian, wrecked at the river mouth in October eighteen fifty. He lost the vessel but saved most of his cargo, and the settlement that grew up around his salvage operation took his name.

By eighteen fifty-one the site had become the headquarters of the Umpqua customs district and already had its own post office. Sawmills followed, and Gardiner grew into a busy lumber port. Fire later leveled much of the town, but residents rebuilt quickly in whitewashed wood, earning the place its lasting nickname: the White City by the Sea. In later decades the Gardiner Mill Company ran logging camps and kept a steady trade in sailing ships, making Gardiner one of the liveliest towns on the Oregon coast.