Umapine 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 Umatilla County

Umatilla County, Oregon

Umatilla 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 Umatilla River. In 2010, its population was 75,889...

, 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

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, two miles from the Oregon-Washington border. It has a population of approximately 300 people. The community is part of the Pendleton

Pendleton, Oregon

Pendleton is a city in Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. Pendleton was named in 1868 by the county commissioners for George H. Pendleton, Democratic candidate for Vice-President in the 1864 presidential campaign. The population was 16,612 at the 2010 census...

–Hermiston

Hermiston, Oregon

As of the census of 2010, there were 16,745 people, 4,964 households, and 3,360 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,035.4 people per square mile . There were 5,383 housing units at an average density of 832.9 per square mile...

 Micropolitan Statistical Area. It was established as a railroad stop on the Walla Walla Valley Railway with an active lumber yard and large population of dairies in the early 1900s. The current economy is supported by agriculture, including wheat and hay farms, apple orchards, and an increasing number of vineyards. The main establishments in the town are Umapine Market and the Waterhole Tavern.

Umapine was originally named Vincent, Oregon, until the community acted to get its own post office. Since there was already a post office by that same name in Wallowa County

Wallowa County, Oregon

Wallowa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is included in the 8 county definition of Eastern Oregon. According to Oregon Geographic Names, the origins of the county's name are uncertain, with the most likely explanation being that it is derived from the Nez Perce term for a...

, the place was renamed for a prominent Indian chief who had once lived in the area, Chief Umapine, who was either of the Cayuse

Cayuse

The Cayuse are a Native American tribe in the state of Oregon in the United States. The Cayuse tribe shares a reservation in northeastern Oregon with the Umatilla and the Walla Walla tribes as part of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation...

 or Umatilla

Umatilla (tribe)

The Umatilla are a Sahaptin-speaking Native American group living on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, who traditionally inhabited the Columbia Plateau region of the northwestern United States....

 people. The post office was established in June 1916. After several fires in the post office building, Umapine post office, ZIP code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 97881, was closed in December 1966. Umapine now has a Milton-Freewater

Milton-Freewater, Oregon

Milton-Freewater is a city in Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. The city received its current name in 1951 when the neighboring rival cities of Milton and Freewater voted to merge. The population was 6,470 at the 2000 census...

 mailing address, whose ZIP code is 97862.

For several decades the town had a school that served kindergarten

Kindergarten

A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...

 through twelfth grade

Twelfth grade

Twelfth grade or Senior year, or Grade Twelve, are the North American names for the final year of secondary school. In most countries students then graduate at age 17 or 18. In some countries, there is a thirteenth grade, while other countries do not have a 12th grade/year at all...

 and whose mascot was the Umapine Chiefs. The enrollment at the school averaged 100 students. The school closed and incorporated with nearby Ferndale School District in 1984, which later incorporated with Milton-Freewater Unified School District

Milton-Freewater Unified School District

The Milton-Freewater Unified School District is a school district in the U.S. state of Oregon in that serves the city of Milton-Freewater and the surrounding area.-Demographics:...

 in the early 1990s. In the early 1990s, the 1911 school building was sold to a local artist who established a fine art bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

 foundry

Foundry

A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals processed are aluminum and cast iron...

, Old School Bronze (formerly Northwest Art Casting), that is still in existence.

External links

• Portrait of Chief Umapine by Lee Moorhouse
  Lee Moorhouse
  Thomas Leander Moorhouse of Pendleton, Oregon, United States, was a photographer and an Indian Agent for the Umatilla Indian Reservation. From 1888 to 1916, he produced over 9,000 images documenting urban, rural, and Native American life in the Columbia Basin, and particularly Umatilla County,...
  
  , from the Yakima Valley Regional Library