Delena, Oregon

Delena is an unincorporated community in Columbia County, Oregon, United States. It lies along U.S. Route 30 slightly west of Alston and about halfway between Rainier on the east and Clatskanie on the west.[2]

Delena, Oregon
Unincorporated community
Delena Show map of Oregon Delena Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 46°05′54″N 123°04′26″W
Country	United States
State	Oregon
County	Columbia
Elevation	453 ft (138 m)
Time zone	UTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP code	97016
Area code(s)	503 and 971
Coordinates and elevation from Geographic Names Information System[1]

Delena had a post office that operated intermittently from April 22, 1892, to March 15, 1922. Lincoln J. Meserve was the first of nine postmasters at this location.[3]

Accounts of the origin of the community's name have varied, according to Oregon Geographic Names (OGN). It may refer to a mythological name that Meserve found in a book or it may be the name of someone in Meserve's family or it may refer to a place in Nebraska. In 1947, W. N. Meserve, Meserve's brother, told the OGN compiler that the mythological explanation was correct, and the compiler could find no place named Delena in Nebraska.[3]

References

2. Oregon Atlas & Gazetteer (7th ed.). Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. 2008. ISBN 0-89933-347-8.
3. McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. ISBN 978-0875952772.