Photo: Rick Obst / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Lincoln County was carved out of Benton and Polk counties in 1893. Its name honors Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president.
A new county
By the 1890s, the central coast had grown enough that residents wanted their own county seat. The Legislature created the new county, and Toledo served as the first county seat before Newport took the role in the 1950s.
Why Lincoln
Naming places for Lincoln was common in the decades after the Civil War. Oregon’s Lincoln County is one of many across the country.
Lincoln City
Lincoln City, formed in 1965 when several small towns merged, took the county’s name.
Dewey Albrecht covers the Port of Newport, commercial and sport fishing and the Yaquina Bay bar.
