New Bridge is an unincorporated

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 community in Baker County

Baker County, Oregon

Baker County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is included in the 8 county definition of Eastern Oregon. It is named for Edward Dickinson Baker, a senator from Oregon who was killed at Ball's Bluff, a battle of the Civil War in Virginia in 1861. It was split from the eastern part...

, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, United States, about three miles north of Richland

Richland, Oregon

Richland is a city in Baker County, Oregon, United States. The population was 147 at the 2000 census.-History:Richland was platted in 1897 due to needs from nearby mining and railroad interests...

 and Oregon Route 86

Oregon Route 86

Oregon Route 86 is an Oregon state highway running from Interstate 84 at Baker City to the Idaho state line at Oxbow . OR 86 comprises most of the Baker-Copperfield Highway No. 12 . It is long and runs east–west. OR 86 has an unsigned spur near Halfway, which runs for...

. Its elevation is 2369 feet (722 m).

New Bridge was founded on the banks of Eagle Creek near an important bridge built across the stream in pioneer

American pioneer

American pioneers are any of the people in American history who migrated west to join in settling and developing new areas. The term especially refers to those who were going to settle any territory which had previously not been settled or developed by European or American society, although the...

 times. Joseph Gale

Joseph Gale

Joseph Goff Gale was an American pioneer, trapper, entrepreneur, and politician who contributed to the early settlement of the Oregon Country...

 was the first postmaster of New Bridge post office, which ran from 1878 until 1967. The town was originally in Union County

Union County, Oregon

Union County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is included in the 8 county definition of Eastern Oregon. The county is named for the town of Union, which is located within its boundaries; in 2010, the county population was 25,748. The county seat is La Grande.-History:Union County...

 until 1901, when the boundaries were changed to eliminate the panhandle

Panhandle

A panhandle is an informal geographic term for an elongated arm-like protrusion of a geo-political entity, such as a subnational entity or a sovereign state.-Term:...

 in which New Bridge was located. New Bridge was plat

Plat

A plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....

ted in 1908, "only after irreversible decline had set in". New Bridge sold agricultural products from the Eagle Valley to miners near Sparta

Sparta, Oregon

Sparta is an unincorporated community in Baker County, Oregon, United States. It was named for Sparta, Illinois by William H. Packwood, a prominent Oregon pioneer who visited the gold diggings at the Powder River there in 1871....

. It had a fruit and vegetable cannery, a box factory, and a packing shed for apples. The decline of New Bridge was due in part to nearby Richland being platted in 1897.