Otis is an unincorporated community in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States, a half mile north of Otis Junction on Oregon Route 18. It is near the Salmon River.
Otis post office was established in 1900 and was named after Otis Thompson, nephew of Archibald S. Thompson, the postmaster.
U.S. Route 101 used to pass through Otis until a curvy and hilly section of road was rerouted in the 1960s. Otis Junction is at the intersection of the former terminus of Oregon Route 18 and the former alignment of U.S. 101.
The Sitka Center for Art and Ecology has an Otis mailing address but is located nearer to the coast on Cascade Head. The Otis ZIP code, 97368, also covers the community of Rose Lodge. Today Otis and Otis Junction are considered synonymous.
Otis made the national headlines in 1999 and again in 2004, when it was announced that the town was for sale for $3 million. The news stories describe the Otis Café and other amenities that are at Otis Junction; it is unclear if the 193 acres (0.78 km2) that were for sale included the land in Otis proper. Owner Vivian Lematta's grandfather bought the land from descendants of the Siletz Indians for $800 in 1910. Lematta left Otis in 1957. Included in the sale were the gas station and mini grocery store, a Pronto Pup corn dog stand, two houses, an empty 25-stall horse barn, a helicopter storage shed, a garage, a Grange hall, the Otis post office, the Otis Café, an auto-repair garage and 190 acres (0.77 km2) of farmland. Part of the land was used for raising cattle and part was undergoing timber conservation.
Climate
This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F (22.0 °C). According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Otis has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.
References
External links
- Historic images of Otis from Salem Public Library
- U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Otis School (historical)
- U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Otis Post Office
