Western small-town character in Sisters
Sisters wears its western identity openly. Here is what the record says about how the town came to be.
Where the name came from
Wikipedia reports that Camp Polk stood about three miles from the present town from September 1865 to May 1866, and that Samuel Hindman built a shop and post office in the area in 1870. In 1888 a post office opened under the name "Three Sisters," later shortened to "Sisters." The origin of the name is uncertain, though one theory ties it to the mountains nearby. Alex and Robert Smith platted the town on July 10, 1901.
Ranching, timber and fire
According to Wikipedia, sheep traffic on the Santiam wagon road fed early growth, and by 1900 cattle had largely replaced sheep. A sawmill opened in 1914 and began a logging era. Fires in 1923 and 1924 nearly destroyed the town. Sisters was incorporated in 1946, and the last mill closed in 1963, after which the population dropped. In the 1970s a new resort community nearby brought new residents and shoppers, and the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce formed in 1974.
A town that grew back
The population was 2,038 in the 2010 Census and 3,064 in 2020. Portland State University's certified estimate for July 1, 2025 is 3,834. The town's motto, as Wikipedia gives it, is "The West at its best." The Sisters Rodeo, which its own site says has run since 1940, is one of the ways the western theme shows up each June.
Wikipedia lists the elevation at 3,189 feet and average annual precipitation of about 15 inches.