French Prairie

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

French Prairie is a prairie located in Marion County, Oregon, United States, in the Willamette Valley between the Willamette River and the Pudding River, north of Salem. It was named for some of the earliest settlers of that part of the Oregon Country, French Canadian/Métis^[1] people who were mostly former employees of the Hudson's Bay Company.^[2]

1 European American settlement
2 French Prairie today
3 French Canadian settlements in the French Prairie area
4 Notable French Prairie residents
5 References
6 External links

[edit] European American settlement

The European presence in the French Prairie area began with the Willamette Trading Post established in 1814.^[1]

In the 1830s the French Canadian settlers, who were Roman Catholic, petitioned to the Bishop of Juliopolis at the Red River Colony (present-day Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) to have a priest sent to them.^[3] Two of these petitions were sent in 1836 and 1837. Bishop François Norbert Blanchet finally arrived in the French Prairie area in 1838.

For a short time the Oregonian Railway Company had a station named French Prairie about two miles southeast of the city of St. Paul.^[2]

The St. Paul Roman Catholic Church, in St. Paul, was built by the settlers of French Prairie and is the oldest brick building in the Pacific Northwest.^[1]

[edit] French Prairie today

The French Prairie area is still an important agricultural area of the Willamette Valley, and there is concern about urban development encroaching on arable land.^[4]