Valsetz, Oregon

Valsetz was an unincorporated community and timber company town in Polk County, Oregon, United States, west of Falls City in the Central Oregon Coast Range. It no longer exists.

Oregon Geographic Names says that the William W. Mitchell Company started the town in 1919 and named it as a portmanteau of Valley and Siletz Railroad, whose terminus was at that location. Company town researcher Linda Carlson says the town was founded by the Cobbs & Mitchell company of Cadillac, Michigan during World War I. Valsetz post office was established in 1920. In 1984, the town and most of its structures were removed, as everything in the community, property and streets included, was owned by the corporation. The post office closed the same year.

Former residents of Valsetz gather for an annual reunion in Falls City, which is the site of a Valsetz memorial. The place was nationally known for its record rainfalls and for its newspaper, the Valsetz Star, which was started in the 1930s by 9 year old Dorothy Anne Hobson. The Valsetz Dining Hall at Western Oregon University (WOU) in Monmouth, east of Valsetz, was built in 1970 and rededicated in 1991 in tribute to the former community. Between 1926 and 1931, WOU, then known as the Oregon Normal School, sent 16 to 20 student teachers for six week sessions in the Valsetz elementary school.

Valsetz was served by the Valsetz School which was a public school for 1st through 12th grade students. In 1969 the high school had 31 students, making it one of the smallest high school programs in Oregon. High school graduation for the last class was held May 25, 1984 and Senator Mark Hatfield spoke at the event.