Lawen, Oregon

Lawen is an unincorporated community in Harney County, Oregon, United States.^[1] It has a post office with a ZIP code 97720.^[2] Lawen lies along Oregon Route 78 just south of its interchanges with Oregon Route 205, U.S. Route 20, and U.S. Route 395 in Burns, the county seat. Lawen is just north of the East Fork Silvies River and Malheur Lake.^[3]

Lawen, Oregon
Unincorporated community
The Old Lawen Store, Highway 78
Lawen Show map of Oregon Lawen Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 43°26′35″N 118°48′04″W
Country	United States
State	Oregon
County	Harney
Elevation [1]	4,108 ft (1,252 m)
Time zone	UTC-8 (PST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP codes	97720
Area code	541
GNIS feature ID	1136466[1]

In 2023, Taylor Perse of the Eugene Weekly described it as "a ghost town with a handful of rundown buildings."^[4]

History

The namesake is Henry Lauen.^[5]

Flooding in 1984 affected the region.^[6]

Climate

According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Lawen has a semi-arid climate, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps.^[7]

Government and infrastructure

There was a Lawen Post Office that started in 1891.^[5] The Sunday Oregonian stated that the post office building "is thought to have been built about 1896".^[8] In 1920 The Times-Herald stated opposition to a plan to close the post office.^[9] The structure, in 1929, moved to the new location of the community from the old one.^[8] The building had two stories. In 1984 flooding occurred that threatened the post office.^[6] 1985 flooding also threatened the post office.^[8]

Education

Lawen is in Harney County School District 4 (Crane School, grades K-8) and Harney County Union High School District 1J (Crane Union High School).^[10][11] Crane Union opened in 1918 in Lawen and moved to Crane in 1920.^[12]

Harney County is not in a community college district but has a "contract out of district" (COD) with Treasure Valley Community College.^[13] TVCC operates the Burns Outreach Center in Burns.^[14]

Lawen Elementary School

Previously Lawen had its own school district, Lawen Elementary School District, and its own school.^[15] The school, which had grades 1-8, was a two room facility, described by The Daily Astorian as "tiny".^[16] The school grounds had a septic tank, a well, a horse barn, and a bell tower. Some students rode on horses.^[17]

In May 1984,^[18] a flood from Malheur Lake went into the school property, with the septic tank and well affected.^[16] The foundation was also damaged.^[19] Therefore, students went to Crane Elementary on what was supposed to be a temporary basis. Circa 1985 it was anticipated that the waters itself would enter the school building. At the time, nine students had been at Lawen Elementary.^[20] United Press International stated that possible repairs would have been "expensive".^[19]

In 1985 there was an election on whether to merge the Lawen district into the Crane district, but voters turned down the proposal in a referendum. Five people voted against it and four people voted for it.^[15] The Lawen school remained closed. In May 1987 another referendum was held, and voters this time favored the merger.^[21] On June 28, 1988, the Statesman Journal stated that the final vote count for the May 1987 referendum was 7-4.^[21] At the time there were 33 registered voters. Five voted in favor to close, three voted against it, and the remainder did not vote.^[16] At the time of the vote, there were three Lawen area students attending the Crane School and one attending a school in Burns.^[17] On May 31, 1988, seven voters voted in favor to consolidate Lawen into Crane, and four voted against.^[19] In 1988 the Lawen district merged into the Crane district.^[21]