Morrow County

County seat

Heppner

Judicial district

6th Judicial District (Umatilla and Morrow counties). Morrow County Circuit Court, Morrow County Courthouse.

County website

morrowcountyor.gov

Population, 2020 Census

12,186

Area

2,031 square miles of land

Federal land

16.2%	All federal agencies
11.0%	Forest Service
4.3%	Department of Defense
0.6%	Fish and Wildlife Service
0.3%	BLM

Land and economy

About 12,200 people live in Morrow County, nearly half of them in Boardman and Irrigon on the Columbia River. Heppner, the county seat, has 1,187. Agriculture, food processing, dairies, utilities, forest products, livestock and recreation are the principal industries (Oregon Blue Book). The Port of Morrow runs four industrial parks, and Amazon operates data centers nearby (OPB). Shepherds Flat and Wheatridge produce over 850 megawatts of wind and solar power (Morrow County). The Boardman coal plant closed in 2020 (Oregon DEQ). Interstate 84 crosses the county.

Irrigated farmland lies in the north, wheat and cattle ranches in the center and timber in the Blue Mountains to the south. Federal land is 16.2 percent of the county, mostly Umatilla National Forest and a Navy training range south of Boardman (EPA). Outside the cities, farm, forest and industrial zoning under the county’s ordinance governs land use. Corners trace to the original government survey (Morrow County Surveyor). The state has managed groundwater nitrate in the north county since 1990 (Oregon DEQ).

Cities

City	Population, 2020
Boardman. The county's largest city, on the Columbia River, with the Port of Morrow's industrial parks, data centers and food processors. City hall: 200 City Center Cir., Boardman, OR 97818, 541-481-9252.	3,828
Irrigon. On the Columbia River between Boardman and Umatilla, with a large park and marina, a softball complex and a chamber of commerce. City hall: 500 NE Main St., Irrigon, OR 97844, 541-922-3047.	2,011
Heppner, county seat. On Willow Creek in the south of the county, with the courthouse, county offices and the Morrow County Museum. City hall: 111 N Main St., Heppner, OR 97836, 541-676-9618.	1,187
Ione. A grain-shipping town on the rail line between Heppner and the Columbia. City hall: 385 W Second St., Ione, OR 97843, 541-422-7414.	337
Lexington. On Willow Creek north of Heppner, near the Wheatridge wind farm and the county-owned Lexington Airport. City hall: 425 F Street, Lexington, OR 97839, 541-989-8515.	238

Unincorporated communities: Cecil, Clarke, Eightmile, Ella, Gooseberry, Lena, Morgan, Pine City, Ruggs, Valby.

2020 Census, P.L. 94-171 Redistricting File, place level. City hall addresses and incorporation years from the Oregon Blue Book city pages, read 2026-09-05. Blurb facts from the Oregon Blue Book, Port of Morrow, Travel Oregon, Morrow County and OPB pages read 2026-10-03.

Morrow County and its incorporated cities. Census Bureau boundaries, public domain.

Courts and public offices

Appeals go to the Oregon Court of Appeals in Salem. Federal cases from the county are filed in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon and heard in the Pendleton Division.

Morrow County Circuit CourtMorrow County Courthouse, 100 S Court Street, Heppner, OR 97836 · 541-676-5264 · courts.oregon.gov. 8 to noon and 1 to 4:30, Monday to Friday; drop box at the courthouse's back covered entrance, available any time. One of the three Umatilla & Morrow County Circuit Courts locations (with Pendleton and Hermiston), 6th Judicial District.
County Clerk and Elections (recording, elections, passports, Property Value Appeals Board)Morrow County Courthouse, 100 S Court St., Suite 102, Heppner, OR 97836 · 541-676-5600 · morrowcountyor.gov. Satellite office in Irrigon, Thursdays 9 to noon and 1 to 4.
Assessor and Tax Collector (property records, tax maps, tax statements)Morrow County Courthouse, 100 S Court St., Room 104, Heppner, OR 97836 · 541-676-5607 · morrowcountyor.gov · Tax lot maps (ORMAP). Monday to Friday, 8 to 5
County Surveyor (survey records, corner records, road petitions) · 541-379-0242 · morrowcountyor.gov. The county surveyor is in private practice and keeps no separate public street address, as in most rural Oregon counties; correspondence goes to the county mailing address above.
Planning Department (zoning, partitions, subdivisions, land use applications, code enforcement)Morrow County Government Center, 215 NE Main Ave., Irrigon, OR 97844 · 541-922-4624 · morrowcountyor.gov. Monday to Friday 8 to 5, closed noon to 1. The Planning Department's office is in Irrigon, not at the courthouse in Heppner.
Sheriff, civil division (service and enforcement of civil process)Morrow County Sheriff's Office, 325 Willow View Dr, Heppner, OR 97836 · 541-676-5317 · morrowcountyor.gov
County Commissioners and administrationMorrow County Bartholomew Building, Room 201, 110 N Court St., Heppner, OR 97836 · 541-676-5613 · morrowcountyor.gov
Watermaster, Oregon Water Resources Department (water rights regulation and distribution)Heppner · oregon.gov. District number and office address not resolved from the directory's interactive map; see editor notes.
United States District Court, District of Oregon, Pendleton Division (federal cases from Morrow County)John F. Kilkenny U.S. Post Office and Courthouse, 104 SW Dorion Avenue, Pendleton, OR 97801 · Clerk's office, Portland, 503-326-8000 · ord.uscourts.gov. The Pendleton courthouse is not staffed; filings go to the Portland clerk.

National forests and public land

Umatilla National ForestSupervisor's office in Pendleton; the forest's ground in Morrow County is administered from the Heppner Ranger District.
Heppner Ranger District, Umatilla National Forest117 S Main Street, Heppner, OR 97836 · 541-676-9187
BLM Prineville District3050 NE 3rd Street, Prineville, OR 97754 · 541-416-6700 · The county's small, scattered BLM tracts (about 0.3 percent of the county) fall inside the Prineville District's boundary, which the district describes as running to the Columbia River in the north; not confirmed against BLM's own county list, see editor notes.

Maps and property records

Morrow County Parcel ExplorerAssessor parcel information on the map.
Morrow County Survey Explorer (early release)County surveyor's survey records.
Morrow County zoning mapPDF, adopted 2017.
Tax lot mapsORMAP, linked from the Assessor's page.
ORMAPStatewide tax maps.

Laws and land use rules

Morrow County Zoning Ordinance (ORD-2017-4)
Morrow County Subdivision Ordinance (MC-04-05)
Morrow County Comprehensive PlanAcknowledged January 30, 1986; maintained and amended since.
Boardman Municipal CodeOn Municode.
Heppner City CodeOn American Legal Publishing.

Development

Port of Morrow industrial sitesFour industrial parks in Boardman with building sites from 1 to 2,000 acres. 2 East Marine Drive, Boardman; 541-481-7678.
Port of Morrow Airport Industrial Park2,700 acres around a 4,200-foot general aviation runway, with hangar space and industrial sites for lease or sale.
Lexington Airport (9S9)County-owned since 1960, 4,156-foot paved runway, self-serve fuel, one mile north of Lexington.
Boardman Chamber of Commerce101 Olson Rd, Boardman; 541-481-3014. Business membership organization with nearly 250 member firms.
Irrigon Chamber of Commerce (Travel Oregon listing)420 NE Main Avenue, Irrigon; 541-626-2045.
Greater Eastern Oregon Development CorporationRegional nonprofit lender, Pendleton, 541-276-6745. Administers the Morrow County Equity Fund business loan program for the county.

Resources

Oregon Judicial Department self-helpForms, fee waivers, representing yourself in circuit court.
OJD eFileElectronic filing in Oregon circuit courts.
OJCIN OnlineCase records and calendars.
BLM General Land Office RecordsOriginal patents and survey plats.
Oregon Water Resources Department water rightsCertificates, permits, points of diversion.
Oregon Water Resources Department watermaster directory
Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development

History

Morrow County was created from Umatilla County in 1885, and Heppner is the county seat (Oregon Blue Book). A flood on Willow Creek killed 247 people in Heppner in 1903, and the Army Corps of Engineers built Willow Creek Dam above the town between 1981 and 1983 for flood control (Oregon Encyclopedia, Heppner flood of 1903; Oregon Encyclopedia, Heppner). Boardman and Irrigon grew later, on Columbia Basin irrigation and the mid-twentieth-century dams (Oregon Encyclopedia, Boardman).

Sources for the figures

Population: 2020 Census, P.L. 94-171 Redistricting File, Oregon, table P1
Area: Census Bureau 2020 Gazetteer, Oregon counties: 2,030.53 sq mi land, 17.13 water
Federal land: BLM National Surface Management Agency dataset, clipped to the Census county boundary and measured in Albers equal-area by maps/fedland.py; SMA data edited 2026-07-03; computed 2026-09-05. Army Corps of Engineers 2,640 acres (0.2 percent; Willow Creek Dam, above Heppner, is a Corps flood-control dam, not a Bureau of Reclamation project); State of Oregon 4,597 acres (0.4 percent); private 1,085,036 acres (82.8 percent); 4,924 acres (0.4 percent) coded undetermined.
Unincorporated places: USGS Geographic Names Information System, Oregon populated places, downloaded 2026-09-05; historical entries and incorporated cities omitted
County, court and city addresses checked Sat Sep 05.

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