Hatfield Marine Science Center

Oregon State University opened the Marine Science Center here on the Newport waterfront in nineteen sixty-five. Three pressures came together to make it happen: the fisheries lab needed more room, the new oceanography department needed a harbor for its research vessels, and the town of Newport desperately needed an economic anchor after the fishing and timber industries declined. Local and federal support made the building possible.

The center was later renamed for Oregon Governor and United States Senator Mark Hatfield, one of its longtime champions in Washington. Today it houses six state and federal agencies alongside OSU researchers, making it one of the most concentrated marine science hubs on the Pacific Coast, with a free public visitor center and a research octopus that regularly outwits its keepers.