Drain is a city in Douglas County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2020 census, Drain had a population of 1,172. Drain is named after town founder and politician Charles J. Drain, who donated of nearby land to the Oregon and California Railroad in 1871.
History
In 1876, a coach road was established between Drain and Scottsburg. Drain was the starting point for the Drain-Coos Bay stage line, which ran to Scottsburg and then by river steamer to Gardiner and the beach on the south side of the mouth of the Umpqua River.
The Drain Normal School was founded in the community in 1883 by the Methodist Church. The state took over the school in 1885 and named it as the Central Oregon State Normal School, before it closed in June 1908.
Drain is at the crossroads of Oregon Route 99 and Oregon Route 38, at a pass in the Coast Range, on the way west to the Pacific Ocean.
Elk Creek and Pass Creek, both tributaries of the Umpqua River, converge in Drain.
Pass Creek Bridge, a covered bridge in a park behind the Drain Civic Center, was formerly a road bridge. In 1987, the city moved the structure to the park and opened it to pedestrian traffic only. In 2014, the city completely closed the bridge, made unsafe by rotting support timbers.
Drain, like most of western Oregon, has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb) with dry summers featuring cool mornings and hot afternoons, and chilly, if not severe, wet winters. Occasionally during the winter a cold air mass from the interior will cross the Cascades to bring very cold weather and frost, although Drain gets very little snow with a mean of , a monthly maximum of in January 1950, and a season maximum of in 1970/1971. The coldest month was January 1930 with a mean of , whilst January 1949 with is the only other subfreezing month. The coldest temperature ever recorded in Drain is on January 22, 1962. Rainfall in winter is usually heavy: the wettest month on record is December 1955 which totalled , whilst the wettest "rain year" since 1903 has been from July 1973 to June 1974 with and the driest from July 1976 to June 1977 with . The most precipitation in a single day has been on January 18, 1951.
During the summer months, days are usually hot and clear, whilst nights are cool: in the summer of 2003 only of rain fell over the three months, and in 1951 no measurable precipitation occurred for ninety-five days between May 24 and August 26. When a continental airflow occurs, the weather can become extremely hot: on July 31, 2015, a record was recorded; however, the cool nights have allowed for frost-level temperatures as low as on June 10 of 1916 and on August 28 of 1905.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Drain had a population of 1,172. The median age was 40.4 years. 21.2% of residents were under the age of 18 and 20.5% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 100.3 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 107.2 males age 18 and over.
There were 452 households in Drain, of which 28.1% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 40.5% were married-couple households, 23.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 27.2% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 29.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
! Race !! Number !! Percent
|-
| White || 979 || 83.5%
|-
| Black or African American || 3 || 0.3%
|-
| American Indian and Alaska Native || 15 || 1.3%
|-
| Asian || 8 || 0.7%
|-
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 0 || 0%
|-
| Some other race || 29 || 2.5%
|-
| Two or more races || 138 || 11.8%
|-
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 75 || 6.4%
|}
2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 1,151 people, 454 households, and 319 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 492 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 92.9% White, 0.2% African American, 2.7% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 1.0% from other races, and 3.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.4% of the population.
There were 454 households, of which 33.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.0% were married couples living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 6.6% had a male householder with no wife present, and 29.7% were non-families. 22.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 2.95. in 1885. A decade later it merged with the Cottage Grove Leader in 1895 to form the Echo-Leader and ceased two years later. Miss Laura E. Jones started the North Douglas Watchman in 1898 and it was discontinued after three years. The Drain Nonpareil founded by A. T. Fetter was published from 1901 to 1914. and operated it for three generations until closing the paper in 2015.
References
External links
- Entry for Drain in the Oregon Blue Book
- Historic images of Drain from Salem Public Library