City Seeks Placing Carnegie Building on National Register
July 29, 2026 Hermiston's City Council voted unanimously on July 27 to pursue nominating the 108-year-old Carnegie Building for the National Register of Historic Places. The building is one of 1,700 libraries built nationwide by Andrew Carnegie in the early 1900s, and one of 31 in Oregon. It served as Hermiston's public library until 1986, when the city built a new library, and has since been used
Lamb Weston’s Path to World Domination
Both Boardman and Hermiston have significant Lamb Weston frozen potato processing facilities. The Boardman plant is the largest of Lamb Weston's potato plants in the Columbia River Basin. In 2014, a 192,000 square foot addition to the Boardman facility gave Lamb Weston five production lines in two plants in Boardman, increasing capacity by an estimated 300 million pounds annually. Lamb Weston opened a state-of-the-art potato processing plant
Dance Team Wins Ninth State Title
With its most recent state title, now its ninth across Hip Hop, Dance, or Show since 2019, Hermiston’s dominant dancing dynasty continues The Hermiston High School Dance Team captured the 3A State Hip Hop Championship at the WIAA State Dance and Drill Championships March 28, 2026 at the Yakima SunDome. The Bulldogs edged out Kentlake High School of Kent, Washington, by a single point — 252.90
When Eisenhower Spoke, 30,000 Listened
President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicated McNary Dam on the Columbia River on September 23, 1954, addressing a crowd of about 30,000 near Umatilla, Oregon. His speech highlighted the dam as a "natural legacy" for the benefit of all people, focusing on resource development, flood control, and hydroelectric power. The dam was named after Oregon Senator Charles L. McNary, a champion of river navigation and power development.
Louis Lyons, Hermiston Photographer
Albert “Louis” Lyons, 1916-1990 From the Heppner Gazette Times, Sept. 2, 1987 When Louis Lyons, 70, Hermiston, retires at the end of this month, he will take many memories of Heppner and of Hermiston with him to his new home in Hawaii. The Hermiston Chamber of Commerce is hosting a reception in honor of Lyons’s retirement Sept. 10 at the Hermiston City Park. Many of Lyon’s memories are on
The Sweet Science of Hermiston’s Most Famous Crop
Each summer, the sandy, sun-baked soil of the Columbia Basin reveald their prize: some of the sweetest watermelons grown anywhere in the United States. Since the first half of the 20th century, when farmers started planting the seeds in rotation with the other onion, potatoes, and grain of Eastern Oregon, the melons of the Hermiston area have been delighting consumers with their natural sweetness. Watermelons come from
A novel idea: Naming Hermiston
In the early 1900s, J. F. McNaught , the community's first postmaster, named the town Hermiston at the suggestion of his wife Jennie, after Robert Louis Stevenson’s unfinished novel Weir of Hermiston. The city was incorporated July 10, 1907. There's a direct and fascinating connection between the city of Hermiston and the novel. There are actually two Scottish Hermistons worth knowing about: The better-known one is a hamlet
The Birth of Shari’s Restaurant
In the beginning, there was one Shari’s restaurant in Hermiston, Oregon. Word spread fast about its 24-hour dining, extensive pie offerings and bottomless cups of coffee. Soon, there were lines out the door. As a result, Shari’s Cafes appeared in Sherwood and Newberg, Ore., and then throughout the Northwest. Ron and Sharon Bergquist opened the first Shari's restaurant, named after Sharon, on South Highway 395 in 1978.
Early Hermiston Schools
Sandstone School (Photo courtesy of Steve Mills) Hermiston's first school was opened in the fall of 1906. School was held in a single room on the west side of the railroad tracks. There were six students. The first teacher was May E. Skinner, daughter of William Skinner. By September 1907, school was moved to the upper floor of the Skinner Building at the corner of Second and
Farm-City Pro Rodeo: Riding high after 4 decades
Founded in 1988, the Farm-City Pro Rodeo in Hermiston is an annual event that coincides with the Umatilla County Fair each August. With attendance now topping 20,000, the event has grown from a local tradition into one of the Northwest's premier rodeos — bringing top-tier talent, tourism and a sense of pride to Hermiston year after year. Nationwide, with a total purse of $50,000 per
