Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Antelope, OR

Antelope is a city in Wasco County, Oregon, in the Antelope Valley, the first valley in the area to be settled, where many antelope once grazed.

The 2020 census counted just 37 people in Antelope, which covers 0.46 square miles, all of it land, at an elevation of 2,667 feet, and it is listed with ZIP code 97001.

Antelope began as a stage and freight wagon road stop on the old Dalles to Canyon City Trail, and Howard Maupin came to Antelope in 1863 to operate a horse ranch, becoming caretaker of the stage station established by Henry Wheeler.

Nathan Wallace, who is sometimes credited with being Antelope's first postmaster, acquired the Antelope stage station from Maupin in 1870.

The Antelope post office was established in August 1871, with Howard Maupin as the first postmaster, and the community is considered to have been established in 1872.

Antelope flourished in the 1860s as a mining supply center, and after World War II the community languished until the 1980s.

Antelope was incorporated as the City of Antelope by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on January 29, 1901.

In 1981 followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh established the Rajneeshpuram commune nearby on the old Big Muddy Ranch, and in the early 1980s they moved into Antelope and effectively took over the city government by outnumbering the original residents with new voter registrations.

On September 18, 1984, by a vote of 57 to 22, Antelope's charter was amended to change the name of the city to Rajneesh.

The Rajneesh organization collapsed in 1985 after authorities uncovered criminal activities including the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack, a mass food-poisoning attack, and an aborted plot to assassinate a United States Attorney.