Coquille River (Bandon) Lighthouse

The area around the present-day town of Bandon was inhabited by the Coquille Indians when white settlers started to arrive in 1850. The town site was settled in 1853 and initially called Averill, but a year after the arrival of several immigrants from Bandon, Ireland in 1873, the town’s name was changed to Bandon. Adjacent to the town, the Coquille River empties into the Pacific Ocean. The river extends inland a great distance and was a natural link to the virgin stands of timber in the area, but the bar at the mouth of the river, formed by the interaction of the river and ocean, was a major obstacle for ships entering the river. At times, only a few feet of water would cover the bar, but vessels still attempted to navigate the river in hopes of reaping the rewards that lay upstream. In 1880, Congress passed a bill funding the construction of a jetty on the south side of the river’s entrance that created a deep channel, resulting in a rapid rise in the number of ships entering the river.

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