1805 Lewis and Clark Expedition in future Morrow County
1843 Oregon Trail migrations begin
1848 Col. Cornelius Gilliam sent by Gov. Abernethy to arrest Cayuse Indians responsible for Whitman Massacre; Gilliam died at Well Springs, Morrow County.
1858 Interior Oregon opened for settlement by General Harney
1859 Jordan homestead established in Morrow County.
1862 Passage of Homestead Act; Ayers, Breeden [Breeding], Clark & Cecil homesteads established; gold discovered in John Day Valley.
1867 Cecil Post Office established.
1868-1870 First major cattlemen to area.
1868-1873 First sheep camps established.
1869 Stansbury purchased Estes Claim, established Stansbury Flat.
1872 Henry Heppner and Jackson Morrow open first store; town named for Henry Heppner; Van Armen lumber mill established at the headwaters of Butter Creek; Willow Forks and Vinson Post Offices established.
1873 First school, post office and saloon in Heppner; Lena Post Office established; Joseph Glidden obtains patent on barbed wire.
1874 First timber survey by State of Oregon in Morrow County; Midway Post Office established.
1875 First hotel, livery and Well Fargo Express office established in Heppner.
1876 Gleason's Mill became Parker's Mill.
1878 Bannock-Paiute Wars-Fort Heppner built; coal strike on Johnson Creek; first church [Baptist] established in Heppner.
1879 Hardman school established; first hardware businesses in Heppner.
1880 First wheat, other cereal and hay [Blackhorse] crops; first wheat crop claimed west of Hardman.
1881 Hardman Post Office established; first flour mill established in Heppner.
1882 Ella Post Office established.
1883 Heppner Gazette established; first shoe shop and wagon shop established in Heppner; Eightmile, Atwood, Castle Rock, Gooseberry & Salineville Post Offices established.
1884 Adamsville, Alpine and Ione Post Offices established.
1885 Morrow County established; Heppner designated temporary county seat; Lexington named for Mrs. Wm. Penland's Kentucky home; Lexington Post Office established; courthouse dedicated in Heppner; Ione school built; passage of Jackson Morrow's "Legal Fence" bill by legislature legalized barbed wire; National Bank of Heppner established.
1886 County seat legally established at Heppner after bitter election with Lexington.
1887 Heppner incorporated; 12' sidewalks built on Heppner Main Street; streets graded; Heppner Flouring Mill rebuilt and modernized.
1888 Henry Blackman elected to legislature; got $10K appropriation to build bridge across the North Fork of the John Day River at Monument allowing shipment of John Day Valley wool to Heppner for forwarding;Cyclone hit Lexington causing fatalities; railroad heads in at Heppner.
1889 Gold and silver taken from Willow Creek Mines; Opal found on "Peters Butte;" Fair Building constructed in Heppner.
1890 First steam driven commercial threshing machine in county; Mallory Mill established in Burton Valley.
1891 Palace Hotel opened in Heppner; Morrow County Record begins publication; Heppner school burns, new school built on east hill; Joseph Woolery became merchant in Ione.
1893 Heppner Light and Water Company begins operation.
1893-1895 Bank failures-bad crops-worse prices.
1897 Heppner Times established; National Bank of Heppner closed.
1898 Ione Herald and Ione Post established; Hardman Homestead has brief publishing life.
1900ca Coal found at the headwaters of Willow Creek.
1902 Morrow County Courthouse built.
1903 First 4-year high school graduates, Heppner School; Heppner Flood-250+ victims; Sam Boardman homestead established.
1905ca. Herren's Mill established on the headwaters of Willow Creek.
1907 D.B. Sheller takes over Blue Mountain Forest Preserve (Dept. of Interior); regulation of sheep and cattle grazing.
1908 Local Option vote for Prohibition in Heppner.
1910 Local Option vote against Prohibition in Heppner.
1912 First gas engine powered harvest equipment in Morrow County; Heppner Gazette and Heppner Times consolidated.
1913 New Heppner High School built.
1914 War in Europe-wheat and horse prices rise.
1916 Individual horse-drawn combines drive out commercial outfits; Oregon goes dry-moonshiners prosper.
1917 West Extension Irrigation District added to original district.
1918 First County Agent assigned; north half of Heppner burns (May 27); south half of Heppner burns, including Palace Hotel (July 4).
1919 Willow Creek Road, Heppner-Cecil, graded; Sam Boardman named first Oregon State Parks Superintendent.
1921 First North Morrow County Fair
1922 First official Heppner Rodeo.
1930 Reed's Mill established on Chapin Creek; Heppner City Well drilled.
1932 1st National, Heppner Farmers' Elevator, Farmers & Stockmen's' banks fold.
1933 Scritzmeyer Mill established on the headwaters of Rhea Creek; Heppner issues paper and sheepskin scrip.
1934 1st National Bank re-opens.
1936 Taylor Grazing Act passed; CCC Camp established in Heppner.
1937 First use of strip-cropping in county.
1939 Morrow County forms first Soil Conservation District in the nation.
1940ca Heppner Lumber Co. established.
1940 Morrow County Grain Growers established; Columbia Basin Electric Power Co. incorporated to buy power from BPA; Boardman Bombing Range established.
1940s First use of spray weedkillers and nitrogen fertilizers.
1949 Morrow County Grain Growers Heppner plant burns.
1952 Pioneer Memorial Hospital built in Heppner.
1953 New grade school in Heppner; new Ione school.
1954 Heppner mill sold to Dant & Russell and Maurice Hitchcock.
1959 Final consolidation of all county schools into one district; Heppner mill sold to Kinzua Corporation.
1960ca John Day dam constructed-City of Boardman moved.
1961 New high school in Heppner.
1970ca Proliferation of center-pivot irrigation, Port of Morrow established.
1983 Willow Creek Dam completed.
1986 Conservation Reserve Program established
1994 Heppner mill sold to Pioneer Resources; Union Pacific abandons line into Heppner.
02/04/12