The City of Monmouth was first incorporated in 1856 and has been providing 150 years of quality public service! Monmouth is a city of 8,795 (July 2005) residents and has its own electric distribution system. The city is located 20 minutes West of Salem, the state capitol. The Pacific coastline and Cascade Mountains are an hour’s drive from the city.

Monmouth, Oregon was settled by a group of immigrants from Monmouth, Illinois. Unfortunatley, no structure from those early days remains.

The oldest private structure still existing in Monmouth today, is the Craven House, located on east Main Street. The Western Oregon University campus is where you can find the second oldest exisiting structure, known as Campbell Hall, dating back to 1871.