The White City by the sea. Gardiner is a quiet little village now, drawing lovers of history and art with 64 historic structures, 23 area historic sites, an art gallery representing the work of 40 Pacific Northwest artists and a bronze foundry.
But once it was a town of big business and big dreams. The town was named for the Boston merchant who in 1850 turned the cargo of a shipwrecked schooner into the seeds of a community at the confluence of the Umpqua and Smith rivers. By 1851 Gardiner had its own post office and was the headquarters of the Umpqua Customs District. By 1880 it was bustling with Oregon industry: shipping, shipbuilding, a lumber mill, tannery, cannery and creamery.
Pretty white houses dotted the hillside and earned the community the picturesque title of “The White City by the Sea.” In 1908 the cornerstone for the St. Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church – now on the National Register of Historic Places – was laid. But in 1916 fortune changed and the Southern Pacific line bypassed Gardiner.
The church and the pretty houses remain, but piece-by-piece industry has moved on. Gardiner residents invite neighbors and visitors to enjoy an old-fashioned Fourth of July each year with fireworks over the Umpqua River.
