The first thing we must make note of in Orient is the town hall. Small towns don't really have need of a large town hall and this one would have to be the poster child for that thought. Vanishingly small, it is the smallest town hall we have ever encountered and probably ever will encounter. It stands on the grounds of the fire hall (more normal in size than the town hall) on the north side of Main Street, opposite the park. Incidentally, the population of Orient in 2010 was a "hefty" 115.
Remaining an unincorporated community, Orient began about 1892 as the bottom end of a bucket tramway down the hill from the First Thought Mine on First Thought Mountain, to the northeast of the town. The town wasn't really settled until 1900 with the arrival of the first permanent resident. By about 1910 the First Thought Mine and other gold and copper mines nearby had closed and the economy was taken over by forestry, which remains about the only industry locally.
In the park across from town hall is the fire lookout tower from First Thought Mountain, moved into the park after it had been abandoned by the forestry service. Also in the park is the
Orient Weather Station (see photo below). Two blocks north of the town hall is the Orient School, a two storey brick edifice built in 1910 and today the
Oldest Brick School in Continuous Use in Washington State. A very nice building for such a small town, it will likely become a National Historic Place sometime in the near future.
Also in the town one will find the fire hall, just behind the town hall, a post office, a Community Church, a Seventh Day Adventist Church, a general store, a couple dozen houses and a gas station/convenience store which may or may not still be open. The Kettle River passes by on the east side of town while Highway 395 and the BNSF railroad pass by on the west side, with a few more houses west of them. The Orient Cemetery is east of the Highway about a half mile south of town.
Read the reminiscences of a couple of Orient pioneers at the
Orient School District website.
The entry from the American Guide Series book
Washington: A guide to the Evergreen State follows.
Over
ORIENT, 10.4 m. (alt. 1,441; pop. 175) looms (L) First Thought Mountain. The town originated as a mining camp
in 1902 and was at first called “Morgan,” but was renamed for a near-by mine. The rise in the price of gold in 1935 brought
about renewed activities in mines near Orient.
From Washington: A guide to the Evergreen State, Page 439![]()