Biohazard Cleanup Near Vale Historic District Vale, OR

Vale is a city in and the county seat of Malheur County, Oregon, about 12 miles west of the Idaho border, at the intersection of U.S. Routes 20 and 26 on the Malheur River at its confluence with Bully Creek, with ZIP code 97918.

The 2020 census counted 1,894 people in Vale, living in 713 households, with a median age of 36.4 years.

Vale was selected as Malheur's county seat in 1888 in a vote where the other candidate communities were Ontario and Jordan Valley, and it was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on February 21, 1889, originally as the Town of Vale, becoming the City of Vale in 1905.

Vale was the first stop in Oregon along the Oregon Trail, and journals of trail travelers note a trading post in the area as early as 1853; by 1864 Jonathan Keeney had built a cabin and barn offering lodging to passing travelers.

Keeney's cabin was replaced by the Rinehart House in 1872, which still stands today, and a post office named Vale was established in the Rinehart House in 1883, the same year the railroad arrived and made the town an important shipping gateway.

Vale is part of the Ontario, OR-ID Micropolitan Statistical Area, and Ontario, the largest city in Malheur County, is 16 miles to the east-northeast.

Vale has a semi-arid climate, with an average of 12.7 days a year topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit and only about 10.28 inches of average annual precipitation.

Vale's motto is Born and raised on the Oregon Trail.

Vale is within the Vale School District 84, which has grades K-12.

In the 21st century Vale is a stop on the Eastern POINT intercity bus line between Bend and Ontario, with one stop per day in each direction, and the city is served by Miller Memorial Airpark.