What's the Deal with Coquille? (Roseburg, Coos Bay: for sale, homes, find a job)

[richpix]

I'm trying to find more information on Coquille. The link for the chamber of commerce I found doesn't work.

There seems to be a disproportionate amount of homes on the market for the size of the population.

Can anyone tell me what's up?

[hamellr]

Coquille has always been extremely dependent on logging. The local sawmill seems to close down and reopen about every five years or so. Each time it's smaller, and there are less jobs. There is still a lot of timber being cut but it's now cheaper to ship it inland for cutting for the big companies.

Other then farming there are few jobs, the town has a fairly good hospital a feed store or two, dozen restaurants, of which only a couple are fast food, hardware store, historical museum and a small variety of professional services. A good portion of the population lives at or below the poverty line. It's also possible that a lot of homes you're seeing for sale are out in the rural areas, 10+ miles from the town itself.

Also, the highway that bypassed the entire town about ten years ago has been hurting what little tourist/travel traffic there was.

The town hasn't changed very much since the 1920's though. There are several nice old Victorian homes dating from the 1880-1890 time period. It's only 20 miles from Coos Bay and a little further to Bandon. Roseburg is about an hour east and I highly recommend that drive if you get a chance.

Personally, I love the town. I'd live down there in a heart beat if I could find a job. My grandparents have lived in the area for 60+ years and I love the weather.

[richpix]

Thanks, that's more information than I found at the town's own government website. ;-)

Seems they're looking for ways to attract business and interest in the town, but I don't think they're doing a very good job of it. Instead of looking at the bigger picture they're worried about things like hanging flower baskets and a river walk.

Most of the homes I've seen for sale are in town or very near. A lot of them for a place with a population just over 4k.

[seashelly]

I always think of Coquille as one of those small towns that keeps hanging on because it is Coos County Seat of Government. The jail and court system do a pretty good business.