Nestled in the center of the idyllic Willamette Valley, Keizer is one of Oregon’s newest and fastest growing cities. Established in 1982 and recognized as the “Iris Capital of the World,” this charming city of seven square miles and 35,000 residents surrounded by a lush agricultural landscape, has practically doubled in population since its incorporation.
Your search is certain to end in Keizer if what you seek is a newer home in a family friendly subdivision. Sensational new developments are going up all the time featuring master-planned amenities combined with fabulous residences intelligently designed for the way families live today. Streets are safe and secure, schools are top-quality with small class sizes and strong parental involvement, local government is responsive and there is a well maintained system of parks, playgrounds, sports courts and ball fields.
Keizer is also a dream for those who love to get outside and play, only an hour-and-a-half from Oregon’s beaches and within 2 hours of the Cascades for skiing, hiking and picnicking. Surrounded by rivers for watersports of all kinds as well as state parks and preserves for horseback riding, camping and so much more, there’s no finer spot than Keizer to enjoy the natural majesty of the great Northwest.
Despite the rapid expansion, Keizer has preserved and protected its appealing small town character offering a quaint downtown shopping district, the largest volunteer little league organization in Oregon and special events that bring the community together like the world-famous Keizer Iris Festival and the annual Miracle of Christmas lighting display. Perhaps the single element that that truly brings Keizer together is cheering on the Keizer-Salem Volcanoes baseball team, a San Francisco Giants farm team that plays a season of forty home games from Memorial Day to Labor Day at Volcanoes Stadium right in town.
Not only does Keizer boast 17 community and neighborhood parks but in 1999, the 20,000 square- foot Carlson Skate Park was opened, constructed largely by volunteer labor and donations. Residents truly show their community spirit by volunteering in many ways that improve the city including maintaining parks and helping to build playgrounds.
As a matter of fact, the city’s motto of “pride, spirit and volunteerism” perfectly encapsulates why Keizer is such a wonderful place to make your home. One of the most recent volunteer projects was the development of Keizer Corner, located at the intersection of River Road and Chemawa Road. What was once the site of a gas station that had fallen into disrepair now features beautiful trees, a water display with the town motto plus waving flags over an enchanting plaza. This project was brought to life through countless hours of volunteer time, donated cash and materials plus lots of elbow grease from dedicated residents. Keizer Corner is truly the embodiment of the town’s pride, spirit and volunteerism.
Situated only 45 minutes from Portland, Keizer is great for commuters to high-tech jobs who prefer living in the peace and tranquility of a rural environment. Nearby Salem, the Oregon State Capital just ten minutes south, many government workers also appreciate the family friendly ambiance of living in Keizer.
During the late spring, when fields of irises are blooming as far as the eye can see, Keizer is truly paradise found. Just like the iris, you and your family will discover there’s no better place to grow and thrive than this slice of Eden known as Keizer.
LOCATION
Keizer is located in the center of the beautiful Willamette Valley, just off the I-5, forty-five minutes south of Portland, Oregon's largest city and ten minutes north of the state capital at Salem. Oregon’s coastline is an hour-and-a-half west with mountains located both west and east. Keizer is bordered on the western edge by the Willamette River, on the southern edge by the city of Salem, on the eastern edge by the I-5 and on the northern edge by rural portions of Marion County.
TRANSPORTATION/AIRPORTS
Wherever you need to go, you can get there hassle free from Keizer. The main drag, River Road, is located just off the I-5, Oregon’s main transportation artery stretching south to California and north to Canada. You’ll also enjoy convenient access to a well maintained infrastructure of state highways including the 22, 213, 219 and 221. Portland is an easy forty-five minute commute north up the I-5 while the state capital at Salem is a quick ten minute shot south down the 219.
Keizer is served by Portland International Airport (PDX) where 17 carriers provide flights to practically anywhere you choose to travel around the globe, with many non-stops to top domestic and international destinations. Closer to home, McNary Field/Salem Municipal Airport just off the I-5 approximately 2 miles southeast of Downtown Salem, serves private planes and helicopters.
The superb public transportation system known as Cherriots provides six bus routes connecting Keizer to Salem and the main transit mall located in Courthouse Square where 22 lines converge. Covered pedestrian walkways connect all buses to the comfortable waiting room and customer service counter. Travel is even free inside the Downtown Salem/Capital Mall area bounded by Mission, Front, Union and 12th Streets. Known as the Fareless Square, it’s ideal for riders heading from the Capital area to downtown for lunch as well as shoppers who want to get around downtown Salem. Travel is also fare-free into West Salem on the West Salem/Downtown Shuttle connecting the Courthouse Square Transit Mall with the Glen Creek Transit Station and the five bus routes that serve West Salem.
Amtrak’s Cascades and Coast Starlight routes, two of the most scenic train lines in the nation, make stops in Salem. The Coast Starlight runs from Portland to Los Angeles passing through Eugene, Sacramento, Oakland/San Francisco, San Jose and Santa Barbara. The breathtaking scenery along the Coast Starlight route is unparalleled featuring snow-covered mountains, dense forests, fertile valleys and long stretches of Pacific Ocean. The Amtrak Cascades run from Eugene to Vancouver, British Columbia, transporting riders through the majesty of the Pacific Northwest on sleek European-designed trains known as Talgos.
Greyhound Bus also maintains a fully staffed depot in Downtown Salem with routes connecting to cities large and small throughout the state.
A BRIEF HISTORY
Native Americans know as the Kalapuya began inhabiting the Willamette Valley about 10,000 years ago, harvesting roots and berries and hunting game. They called the area, “Chemeketa,” said to mean, “meeting or resting place.”
Trappers arrived in the early 1800’s and some turned to farming the fertile soil. Shortly afterwards, the US government signed treaties with the Kalapuyas, whose population had been declining since the 1780’s due to disease and the loss of their traditional ways.
The treaties required the Kalapuyas to move onto reservations in the coastal range which lead to a surge of settlement that began starting in 1843 when thousands of pioneers traveled overland on the Oregon Trail hoping to start a new life in the fabled Willamette Valley, acclaimed in the East as a new Garden of Eden.
The Donation Land Law promised 320 acres of free land for each resident. Fleeing the economically depressed Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio River valleys, many of the pioneers came with their families to start a better life in a healthier climate. Farms were established, trees planted and roads to the mountains and through the passes carved out. Religious leaders arrived to provide comfort and counsel.
Keizer's first settlers arrived in the 1840's and by the mid-1850s, 18 families had laid claim to the 7,655 acres which comprise today’s Keizer. Members of the Keizurs family had the largest holding totaling 2,415 acres. The community took the name of Thomas Dove Keizur, patriarch of the family, which came to Oregon with the Applegate wagon train in the fall of 1843. Soon the first school was established and not long after the first church.
In 1861, one of the worst floods ever to hit the Willamette Valley devastated the still nascent Keizer community. Homes, barns, furnishings, farming implements, cattle and poultry were washed away when rivers and creeks overflowed their banks leaving most farms underwater. In the years following the flood, Keizer farmers moved their homes and fields to higher ground. The oldest home still standing in Keizer is the John Pugh house built in 1875 above Claggett Creek.
Frequent flooding of the Willamette River hampered development of the Keizer area. In 1917, more than 70 years after the first settlement, there were fewer than 70 families, most on higher ground off Chemawa Road. The 1940’s were a particularly trying time for the area as flooding returned in 1943, 1945, 1946 and 1948.
By the 1950’s, dams being constructed on the Willamette and its tributaries began to regulate the river so it no longer routinely rose to flood stage. Developers, who up until then had avoided Keizer because of the history of natural disasters, soon arrived and began to sow the seeds of a small town.
City phones replaced the country line and a volunteer fire department was formed. River Road, Keizer’s main street, was realigned and paved, business people and service industries soon set up shop and the newspaper was founded.
By 1960 there were over 5,000 people, more than doubling to 11,000 by 1970 as orchards and berry fields gave way to houses. Some residents still have a full-grown fruit or nut tree in their yards as testament to those bygone days. By 1980, Keizer’s population had grown to 18,000 residents yet it had no city government, resting on unincorporated Marion County land.
The need became apparent for city services such as street lights, water and police protection. Keizer citizens voted to finance them while at the same time the City of Salem tried to annex the growing community adjacent to its city limits. In 1964, a number of Keizer residents tried to convince their fellow citizens that it would be cheaper and better to form their own city rather than be swallowed up by Salem but the effort failed on a voter referendum.
By 1982, when the Oregon Legislature made it possible for communities to more easily incorporate, many Keizer citizens worked hard to pass a new city-hood measure placed on the ballot. The measure passed on November 2, 1982 and Keizer became an officially incorporated city.
Today’s Keizer is famous as the center of the world's iris industry where the rich soil continues to produce beautiful gardens, lush nurseries, world-class wineries and abundant crops.
- NUMBER1EXPERTS™ 
