Curry

Formed December 18, 1855 (17^th county)

Curry County (23,447), Gold Beach (2,342), Brookings (6,743)

A masonry 1958 Modern courthouse is in Gold Beach.  It is located on Ellensburg Avenue at Strahan Street.  Ellensburg Avenue is United States Highway 101 in the town.  Claud N. Freeman and Raymond O. Marks combined on the building designs.  This courthouse replaced an earlier 1912 courthouse.  There was also an 1873 courthouse.  The building was enlarged in 1978.  The county was founded on December 18, 1855 from Coos County as the 17^th county.  Curry County is named for Territorial Governor George Law Curry.  The county seat is named for local gold mining.  Port Orford (1855) and Ellensburg (1859) were earlier county seats.  Ellensburg changed its name to Gold Beach in 1877. 

Curry County government consists of a treasurer, a sheriff, an attorney, an administrator, and a clerk (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Four District Court Judges serve Curry and Coos counties (judicial.)  The county is in the southwest corner bordering both California and the Pacific Ocean.  Eugene, Oregon is northeast and Medford, Oregon is east of the county.  The county center is 15.2 miles Northeast of Gold Beach nearer Ophir.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Coos, Douglas, and Josephine counties and California and the Pacific Ocean. 

The area of the county is 1627 square miles.  It is 22 out of 36 in the state.  It ranks 27 out of 36 in population in the state.  It has a density of 14.4 persons per square mile making it 21 out of 36 in the state.  Curry County has 43.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 101 travels through the county from north to south from Coos County to California.  The county looks like a child on its knees praying.  Gold Beach is located on the central west coast of the county.  Brookings is in the southwest corner of the county.  Gold Beach is the county seat and Brookings is the largest city.  Gold Beach is 10.0% of the county population while Brookings is 28.8% of the county population.  The county is pronounced KUR-REE.  This county is in the Brookings Micropolitan Statistical Area.