Biohazard Cleanup Near West Joseph Joseph, OR

Joseph is a city in Wallowa County, Oregon, incorporated in 1887.

Originally named Silver Lake and Lake City, the city formally named itself in 1880 for Chief Joseph (1840-1904) of the Nez Perce people.

Joseph was platted in 1883, and its early economy was based on grain and livestock until a railroad line completed in 1908 brought a lumber mill.

The First Bank of Joseph was robbed in 1896, with one robber shot and killed, another shot and captured, and a third escaping with the money, and the robbery has occasionally been reenacted.

When the timber industry collapsed in the 1980s, local unemployment approached 17 percent, but in 1982 three bronze foundries opened in the local area, giving Joseph a new industry.

Joseph sponsors the annual Chief Joseph Days Rodeo in late July, Bronze, Blues and Brews in August since 2001, and Alpenfest in September, a Swiss-Bavarian festival reflecting the area's reputation as "Oregon's Little Switzerland."

As of the 2020 census, Joseph had a population of 1,154, up from 1,081 in 2010.

The 2020 census counted 546 households in Joseph, and the city's median age was 55.9 years, with 34.6 percent of residents aged 65 or older.

Joseph sits at an elevation of 4,193 feet and covers 0.88 square miles, all land.

Joseph has a humid continental climate, with a record high of 100 degrees Fahrenheit in July 1919 and a record low of minus 34 degrees in December 1924.