Brookings is a city in Curry County, Oregon, United States. It was named after John E. Brookings, president of the Brookings Lumber & Box Company, who founded the city in 1908. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,744.
History
Founding
left|thumb|Crew looking out of camp building windows, Brookings Timber and Lumber Company, Brookings,
In 1906, the Brookings Timber Company hired William James Ward, a graduate in civil engineering and forestry, to come to the southern Oregon Coast and survey its lumbering potential. After timber cruising the Chetco and Pistol River areas for several years, he concluded that conditions were favorable for extensive lumbering operations and advised the Brookings Timber Company accordingly to acquire a suitable townsite to accommodate both a mill and a shipping center.
While John E. Brookings was responsible for the founding of Brookings as a company town, it was his cousin, Robert S. Brookings, who was responsible for its actual design. The latter Brookings hired Bernard Maybeck, an architect based in San Francisco who was later involved in the Panama–Pacific International Exposition, to lay out the plat of the townsite.
World War II
On September 9, 1942, Mount Emily near Brookings became the only site in the mainland United States and the second in the continental territory after the bombing of Dutch Harbor to suffer aerial bombardment during World War II. A Japanese floatplane piloted by Nobuo Fujita was launched from submarine I-25. The plane was armed with two incendiary bombs on a mission intended to start massive fires in the dense forests of the Pacific Northwest.
Fujita was invited to Brookings in 1962 and, as a token of friendship, gifted the city his 400-year-old family katana. Fujita later sponsored a trip to Japan for Brookings high school students and returned to the city three more times in the early 1990s. In 1997, Fujita was made an honorary citizen of Brookings by the city council.
2011 tsunami
The Port of Brookings Harbor was damaged by tidal surges from a tsunami on March 11, 2011. The largest surge was estimated to be nearly . The tsunami was caused by the 9.0 M<sub>W</sub> Tōhoku earthquake offshore of the east coast of Honshu Island, Japan. The damage was estimated at $25 million to $30 million.
Climate
left|thumb|The climate of Brookings is so mild that [[palm trees can grow there.]]
Brookings has a mild Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csb). According to the Trewartha climate classification, Brookings has a subtropical climate (Cs) since eight months are above .
A weather phenomenon known as the "Chetco Effect" or the "Brookings Effect" can cause the temperature in Brookings near the Chetco River mouth to be much higher than the surrounding area. Adiabatic heating increases the temperature and reduces relative humidity as katabatic wind, driven by high pressure on the Great Basin, descend across the west slopes of the Cascade Range and Oregon Coast Range. The heart of Brookings, with its orientation, is protected from sea breezes coming from the northwest and the warm, dry, down-sloping winds that are funneled down the Coastal Range into the deep Chetco River gorge can reach the coast uninfluenced by the effects of the Pacific. This can result in large temperature gradients; when Brookings recorded its all-time record high on July 8, 2008 of , Crescent City, around south of Brookings, recorded a high temperature of just .
|single line = Y
|width = 50%
|collapsed = Y
|Jan record high F = 80
|Feb record high F = 85
|Mar record high F = 88
|Apr record high F = 92
|May record high F = 99
|Jun record high F = 100
|Jul record high F = 108
|Aug record high F = 101
|Sep record high F = 103
|Oct record high F = 100
|Nov record high F = 88
|Dec record high F = 79
|Jan high F = 53.7
|Feb high F = 54.7
|Mar high F = 55.4
|Apr high F = 57.9
|May high F = 61.7
|Jun high F = 64.6
|Jul high F = 66.6
|Aug high F = 66.4
|Sep high F = 66.9
|Oct high F = 62.7
|Nov high F = 57.3
|Dec high F = 53.0
|year high F = 60.1
|Jan mean F = 48.6
|Feb mean F = 48.9
|Mar mean F = 49.4
|Apr mean F = 51.4
|May mean F = 54.9
|Jun mean F = 58.1
|Jul mean F = 60.0
|Aug mean F = 60.1
|Sep mean F = 59.6
|Oct mean F = 56.0
|Nov mean F = 51.6
|Dec mean F = 47.9
|Jan low F = 43.6
|Feb low F = 43.2
|Mar low F = 43.4
|Apr low F = 45.0
|May low F = 48.0
|Jun low F = 51.4
|Jul low F = 53.4
|Aug low F = 53.8
|Sep low F = 52.3
|Oct low F = 49.2
|Nov low F = 45.8
|Dec low F = 42.7
|year low F= 47.7
|Jan record low F = 21
|Feb record low F = 24
|Mar record low F = 29
|Apr record low F = 28
|May record low F = 32
|Jun record low F = 34
|Jul record low F = 39
|Aug record low F = 37
|Sep record low F = 34
|Oct record low F = 30
|Nov record low F = 28
|Dec record low F = 17
|precipitation colour = green
|Jan precipitation inch = 12.57
|Feb precipitation inch = 9.91
|Mar precipitation inch = 9.89
|Apr precipitation inch = 7.09
|May precipitation inch = 3.37
|Jun precipitation inch = 2.06
|Jul precipitation inch = 0.39
|Aug precipitation inch = 0.67
|Sep precipitation inch = 1.46
|Oct precipitation inch = 4.98
|Nov precipitation inch = 11.12
|Dec precipitation inch = 14.10
|year precipitation inch= 77.61
|Jul snow inch = 0
|Aug snow inch = 0
|Sep snow inch = 0
|Oct snow inch = 0
|Nov snow inch = 0
|Dec snow inch = 0.1
|Jan snow inch = 0.2
|Feb snow inch = 0.3
|Mar snow inch = 0.1
|Apr snow inch = 0
|May snow inch = 0
|Jun snow inch = 0
|year snow inch= 0.7
|unit precipitation days = 0.05 in
|Jan precipitation days = 17.7
|Feb precipitation days = 16.1
|Mar precipitation days = 17.9
|Apr precipitation days = 14.4
|May precipitation days = 9.8
|Jun precipitation days = 6.0
|Jul precipitation days = 3.4
|Aug precipitation days = 3.9
|Sep precipitation days = 4.9
|Oct precipitation days = 10.3
|Nov precipitation days = 17.9
|Dec precipitation days = 18.5
|unit snow days = 0.1 in
|Jul snow days = 0
|Aug snow days = 0
|Sep snow days = 0
|Oct snow days = 0
|Nov snow days = 0
|Dec snow days = 0.1
|Jan snow days = 0
|Feb snow days = 0.1
|Mar snow days = 0
|Apr snow days = 0
|May snow days = 0
|Jun snow days = 0
|source 1 = NOAA
;Notes:
Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Brookings had a population of 6,744. The median age was 49.3 years. 18.5% of residents were under the age of 18 and 28.7% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 93.1 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 91.6 males age 18 and over.
99.2% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.8% lived in rural areas.
There were 2,968 households in Brookings, of which 24.1% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 44.2% were married-couple households, 18.5% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 28.9% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
! Race !! Number !! Percent
|-
| White || 5,496 || 81.5%
|-
| Black or African American || 29 || 0.4%
|-
| American Indian and Alaska Native || 171 || 2.5%
|-
| Asian || 90 || 1.3%
|-
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 9 || 0.1%
|-
| Some other race || 212 || 3.1%
|-
| Two or more races || 737 || 10.9%
|-
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 655 || 9.7%
|}
2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 6,336 people, 2,717 households, and 1,689 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 3,183 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 92.2% White, 0.3% African American, 1.8% Native American, 0.9% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.9% from other races, and 3.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.6% of the population.
Harris Beach State Park
thumb|The overlook at [[Harris Beach State Park]]Harris Beach State Park is located on Highway 101 at the north end of Brookings. It includes of coastal access as well as RV and tent camping facilities and a rest area.
Arts and culture
Principal photography for the 2024 film Bad Fish took place in Brookings in 2022. The film featured local landmarks such as Brookings Harbor and Harris Beach State Park.
Annual cultural events
Each year, the town hosts the "Pirates of the Pacific" festival.<!--===Museums and other points of interest===-->
One major event in the town is the Azalea Festival, which includes the Azalea Parade and live music. It is held every year on Memorial Day Weekend.
Another very popular event in Brookings is the Nature's Coastal Holiday light display which is open each evening from Thanksgiving weekend through Christmas in Azalea Park.
Soup kitchen
After a long history of feeding the homeless, the City Council moved against St. Timothy's Episcopal Church for operating a soup kitchen. This was fueled by a feeling within the town that the soup kitchen was drawing "the wrong kind of people" to the area. After a long, drawn-out legal battle, starting in 2021 and culminating in 2024, St. Timothy's Episcopal Church was granted permission by a Federal court to continue to operate the soup kitchen.
Media
Newspaper
- Curry Coastal Pilot
Radio
- KURY-FM
- KSEP-FM (Brookings Seventh-day Adventist Church)
- KCIW 100.7 FM Curry Coast Community Radio
Notable people
- Ethan Allen (1904–1993) – professional baseball player in Major League Baseball (MLB)
- Dom Callicrate (1885–1979) – college football player
- Ray "Crash" Corrigan (1902–1976) – actor
- Max Steineke (1898–1952) – petroleum geologist
- Elmo Williams (1913–2015) – film and television director and producer
References
External links
- Entry for Brookings in the Oregon Blue Book
- The Unlikely Bond Between An Oregon Town And The Man Who Bombed It Produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting