Halfway is a city in Baker County, Oregon, United States. The city took its name from the location of its post office, on the Alexander Stalker ranch, halfway between Pine and Jim Town. The population was 351 at the 2020 census.

During the dot-com bubble, Halfway agreed to rename itself Half.com for a year as a publicity stunt for the e-commerce company of the same name. While a post office was established in 1887, the town was platted in another location in 1907, the post office moved there in 1908, and it incorporated in 1909.

Half.com name change

Halfway earned a place in the history of the dot-com era in December 1999, when it received and accepted an offer to rename itself as Half.com, after the e-commerce start-up, for one year in exchange for , 20 computers for the school, and other financial subsidies. It became the first city in the world to rename itself as a dot com. The proclamation did not legally change its name.

Geography

Halfway is located east of Baker City, along Oregon Route 86, halfway between Pine and Cornucopia, which gave the town its name. The city's geographic coordinates of 44°52′42″N 117°6′38″W (making it close to the midpoint between the equator and the North Pole) were part of the reason for Half.com to choose the town for its advertising gimmick.

Climate

According to the Köppen climate classification system, Halfway has a dry-summer humid continental climate (Köppen Dsb).

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 351 people living in Halfway, Oregon. The median age was 48.2 years, with 22.8% of residents under the age of 18 and 29.1% aged 65 or older. For every 100 females there were 99.4 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 93.6 males age 18 and over.

thumbnail|right|[[US Bank building in Downtown Halfway on the corner of Main Street and Grove Lane]]

0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 166 households in Halfway, of which 24.1% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 37.3% were married-couple households, 27.1% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 29.5% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 42.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 23.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census

! Race !! Number !! Percent

|-

| White || 309 || 88.0%

|-

| Black or African American || 0 || 0%

|-

| American Indian and Alaska Native || 4 || 1.1%

|-

| Asian || 0 || 0%

|-

| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 0 || 0%

|-

| Some other race || 9 || 2.6%

|-

| Two or more races || 29 || 8.3%

|-

| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 18 || 5.1%

|}

2010 Census

As of the census of 2010, there were 288 people, 153 households, and 76 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 199 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 94.1% White, 1.7% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 1.4% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.5% of the population.

There were 153 households, of which 19.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.6% were married couples living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 0.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 50.3% were non-families. 46.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.88 and the average family size was 2.63.

Notable people

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  • Babette Beatty, the first Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover model
  • Barnaby Keeney, former president of Brown University
  • Robert S. Summers, professor at Cornell Law School

References

Further reading

  • Entry for Halfway in the Oregon Blue Book
  • Official website
  • Halfway information from Hells Canyon Chamber of Commerce
  • Archive of the Hells Canyon Journal, Halfway's local newspaper

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