The Hotel Oregon, currently operated by McMenamins, was originally opened in 1905 as the Hotel Elberton. Once bustling, the building went into a steady decline until the building was renovated in 1998 and the fourth and top floor was finally finished. The building's rich history is documented in artwork on the walls. The hotel hosts an annual UFO convention each may due to the 1950 UFO sightings and photographs in the town by a local farmer. The hotel has 42 European style rooms, two bars, and a restaurant. The walls are decorated with art celebrating not only the buildings history and former occupants, but the town of McMinville's famous UFO sighting in 1950.

Ghost Stories

The ghost of the Hotel Oregon is known as John and is said to probably be a long term resident of the hotel that died. Cold spots have been felt on the first two floors and in the cellar bar.

None of the employees with whom we talked had any personal experiences. One did mention that the doors to "Matties" room (a conference room) would lock and unlock themselves, and that the cellar was creepy. We investigated the conference room, but we were unable to explore the cellar.

While we were investigating the fourth floor before dinner, my wife distinctly detected the smell of lavender, but I did not.

Our Review

The Hotel Oregon, like many McMenamins hotels, does not have bathrooms in most guest rooms, has multiple places to imbibe libations, has numerous murals and canvas paintings adorning the walls. The rooftop pub afforded wonderful views of the area, and was a nice place to get a drink at the end of the day. It was a little cold up there, even in July, but well worth the visit. We enjoyed our steak and salmon dinners in the main restaurant. We went up to the Rooftop bar for drinks and deserts afterwards, which was very nice. We were unable to visit the Cellar Bar because it was not open on the days that we were there (it was only open for the weekends.)

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