Yoder
Clackamas County
Yoder is a little place that has existed almost forever and has done very little with it. I'm sure the folks there like it like it is. As far as I can tell things started to heat up here in 1889 when the first Yoder built the first saw mill. That facility is still in operation in its fourth iteration since it has burned down three times. But the Yoder people with their Mennonite background settled here long before the sawmill. In 1914 the Yoder Store opened and one can still buy a soda there right today (2015). Across the street from the store is the Yoder warehouse which was the founding location of Willamette Egg farms. I suppose you have never heard of Willamette Egg, but I bet you have sampled their wares for breakfast. In 1923 the community built a school that continued in operation until 1963 when a merger with the Rural Dell school put them out of business. Since then the building has been used for various private schools and is now a community church. I stopped at the Yoder mill (Dec. 2014) to take a few photos from the road and various Yoder decendents descended on me to see if I were a government inspector or what? Better just to check out the interesting video on YouTube posted by one of their clients. Or you might check out the census of the Smyrna Cemetery.