Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Near West Gates Gates, OR

Gates is a city on the border of Marion and Linn counties in Oregon, incorporated in 1950, with a 2020 census population of 548 and 239 households.

The greater part of Gates' population is in Marion County, and the city is primarily under Marion County's jurisdiction, while its Linn County portion lies in the Albany-Lebanon Micropolitan Statistical Area and the Marion County portion in the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Gates lies mainly on the north side of the North Santiam River in southeastern Marion County, at the western edge of the Cascade Range, and Oregon Route 22 passes through it, leading west 34 miles to Salem and east 17 miles to Detroit.

Gates' first post office was established in 1882 on the south side of the North Santiam River as Henness, named for the first postmaster, Jane Henness.

The post office later moved to the north side of the river as Gatesville, but it was established with the name Gates on February 12, 1892, honoring one of the area's oldest settlers, Mary Gates.

The city covers about 0.65 square miles, all of it land, at an elevation of 938 feet, and it uses ZIP code 97346.

Gates has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, with warm but not hot, dry summers and no average monthly temperature above 71.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

The 2020 census gave Gates a median age of 51.2 years, with 18.8 percent of residents under 18 and 28.8 percent aged 65 or older, and counted all of its residents as living in rural areas.

Gates was the headquarters for controlling the Beachie Creek Fire, which started August 16, 2020, and a historic windstorm on the night of September 7, 2020, rapidly grew the fire to 131,000 acres, threatening the town and forcing firefighters to evacuate their encampment.

Gates was extensively damaged by the Beachie Creek Fire, and its population nevertheless grew from 471 in the 2010 census to 548 in 2020.