Chenoweth, OR

Chenoweth is the eastern-side community in The Dalles area, spread along the lower Columbia corridor without an incorporated downtown. The census-designated place counted 1,975 residents in 2020. Its name comes from Justin Chenoweth, whose parents, John and Nancy Rose, homesteaded here in the 1850s and 1860s. Locally, you will see the alternate spelling Chenowith on the elementary school and its address, a small spelling wrinkle that belongs to the area’s everyday map. The name appears on roads, school records, and local mail.

Chenowith Elementary is part of North Wasco County School District and is the clearest public-facing institution carrying the local name. The school sits on Chenowith Loop Road, while the surrounding roads lead toward The Dalles, the Columbia River, and the older transportation routes that shaped this part of Wasco County. For residents, Chenoweth is less a separate municipal center than a named piece of The Dalles landscape: a place tied to a pioneer family, a school, and the river-and-highway corridor east of town.