Welcome to Odell

A Brief History of Odell

This is is a well-known community in the middle Hood River Valley. It was named for William Odell, who settled nearby as early as 1861 and whose son, Milton D. Odell, was the first white child born in the valley. Roswell Shelley started a store at Odell and applied the present name. William Odell was a native of Tennessee. Milton Odell was born in 1863. A newsitem in the Hood River Glacier, October 14,1932, cities Mrs. Troy shelley as authourity for the statement that the name of the town was originally suggested by S.F. Blythe, the pioneer editor of the Glacier.

Post office records show that when the post office was established in June 1910, it was first called Newtown. The name was changed to Odell in March 1911. The name Newtown did not refer to Hood River's famous apple but to the new settlement the sprang up at the railroad station about three-quaters of a mile southeast of the old Crossroads.

Today, Diamond Fruit Growers, Inc. and Duckwall-Pooley Fruit Company plants make Odell the Hood River Valley's largest fruit-packing and storing center.

~Courtesy of Hood River County Chamber of Commerce

Tom Jenkins
Don Nunamaker Realtors^®
2495 Cascade
Hood River, OR 97031