Gearhart is a city in Clatsop County, Oregon. The population was 995 at the 2000 census conducted by the US Census Bureau. The 2007 estimate was 1,185 residents.
Since the 1800s, Gearhart has had a way of entrancing and delighting a prosperous crowd from larger inland cities like Portland.
Over the past 150 years Gearhart has emerged as a quiet and somewhat exclusive summer coastal vacation and permanent destination for the affluent of Oregon. The year-round residents working in the timber business and farming during the off season have welcomed the changes. In the summer and fall, many participate in the hospitality industry serving the needs of those with summer cottages and vacation rentals in the Gearhart area.
After the achievement of the Astoria and South Coast Railway in 1890, thriving city dwellers began catching the train down for quiet summers and calm seclusion. From the early 1900s well into the ‘60s, beachfront hotels in Gearhart catered to these people. Throughout every era, this astonishing quaint city by the sea has afforded graceful and fabulous coastal living.
The summer customs in Gearhart steadily became recurrent with the wives and children of Portland businessmen incoming in the spring to open up the beach cottages and get things organized for summer. Soon the fathers began to make the commute from Portland late Friday night and return home Sunday evening to get back for work. The trains that ran at those times were called the “Daddy Trains”.
As paved roads began to appear and automobiles became common, the train service gradually dropped off in the ‘30s and ‘40s and finally ended. The tracks were torn out in the mid 1970s.
Gearhart is home to Oregon's oldest 18 hole golf course, which was founded in 1888. Gearhart is a great place to visit and it is close in proximity to many other Oregon Coast vacation cities. With its moderate temperatures and many outdoor activities Gearhart is the perfect place to rent your next Gearhart vacation rental or vacation home rental along the Oregon coast.
