page_title: McMinnville, Oregon
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: McMinnville, Oregon / History
caption_attribution_description: English: W. T. Newby, founder of McMinnville, Oregon
context_page_description: McMinnville is the county seat of and largest city in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. According to Oregon Geographic Names, it was named by its founder, William T. Newby, an early immigrant on the Oregon Trail, for his hometown of McMinnville, Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 32,187.
  McMinnville is at the confluence of the North and South Forks of the Yamhill River in the Willamette Valley. The city is home to Cascade Steel, Oregon Mutual Insurance Company, Linfield University, Organic Valley creamery, Joe Dancer Park, and Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, the home of Howard Hughes' famed Spruce Goose flying boat.
context_section_description: Town founder William T. Newby joined the Great Migration of 1843, later claiming land in 1844 on the present site of McMinnville in what was known as the Oregon Country. He built a grist mill in 1853 at what would become the west end of Third Street. On May 5, 1856 Newby platted a town and named it after his hometown of McMinnville, Tennessee. Newby would later make a substantial donation of land for the founding of an institution of higher learning in the town, originally called McMinnville College but known today as Linfield University.
  McMinnville was incorporated as a town in 1876 and became a city in 1882. County residents voted to move the county seat of Yamhill County from Lafayette to McMinnville in 1886.
caption: McMinnville founder William T. Newby.
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