When the Yaquina Bay Bridge opened for traffic on Labor Day in 1936 it opened the door on the modern age of highway transportation for Newport.

Built in the modern style of the 1920 & 30’s now known as “art deco,” the graceful steel arches and sculpted concrete geometric pylons of Conde B. McCullough’s bridge design symbolized progress and hope for the future. The new automobile age reoriented Newport’s central business district. As the area developed along Coast Highway 101, many buildings adopted the same art deco style as the bridge.

Today, the bridge is Newport’s most recognizable icon and provides the inspiration for Newport’s City Center Deco District. To honor the district’s unique history and provide a focus for revitalization efforts, the Newport City Council approved designation of the area as an “Art Deco Heritage District” in March 2007.

The proposal was made by the City Center Newport Association, a non-profit corporation whose mission includes educational and cultural guidance on preserving, restoring and/or upgrading the district’s properties to be sensitive to their deco heritage. With help from the City of Newport and widespread support from the community, the many dedicated volunteers of the CCNA are working to make Newport’s City Center a place people will want to go TO, not just through.

Photos courtesy Lincoln County Historical Society and The Ark