Welcome to Fossil ...

The city of Fossil is located in Wheeler County<1> (at the time of its founding, Fossil was located in Gilliam County) and is the County Seat for Wheeler County.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Fossil, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1876.

The city was incorporated in 1891.

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Fossil has a population of 443 people<2> (see below for details).

Fossil is 2,660 feet [811 m] above sea level.<3> In other words, the altitude of Fossil is ½ mile above sea level.

Time Zone: Fossil lies in the Pacific Time Zone (PST/PDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area codes for Fossil: (541) and (458)<4>

The ZIP code for Fossil: 97830<5>

Websites for Fossil ...

Official Website: www.cityoffossil.org/

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Fossil had an population of 443 people. This is a decrease of 6.34% since the 2010 Census (or a decrease of 5.54% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Fossil had a population of 473 people (or 32.82% of the total population of Wheeler County). This makes Fossil the county's most populous community.

The population of Fossil represents 0.01% of the total population of Oregon (which has 3,831,074 people), making it the state's 191st most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 473 people, the population of Fossil has remained roughly the same as the 2000 Census (with a count of 469 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Fossil.

Communities Also Named Fossil ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 3 communities that are also named Fossil - they are located in Tennessee and Wyoming (2).

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Fossil.

Communities near Fossil ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Fossil.

• Condon
  (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Condon
  • Condon is located in Gilliam County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 714 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Condon <6>
• Lonerock
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lonerock
  • Lonerock is located in Gilliam County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 22 people
• Mayville
  (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayville
  • Mayville is located in Gilliam County
• Kinzua ‑ Historic
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kinzua
  • Kinzua is located in Wheeler County
• Clarno
  (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clarno
  • Clarno is located in Wasco County
• Winlock
  (16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Winlock
  • Winlock is located in Wheeler County
• Richmond ‑ Historic
  (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Richmond have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Richmond
  • Richmond is located in Wheeler County
• Waldron ‑ Historic
  (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waldron
  • Waldron is located in Wheeler County
• Spray
  (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spray
  • Spray is located in Wheeler County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 157 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Spray <6>
• Horse Heaven ‑ Historic
  (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horse Heaven
  • Horse Heaven is located in Jefferson County

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Fossil. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Fossil.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Fossil. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Fossil.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Fossil. See our Newspapers Page for Fossil.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Fossil ...

Looking for more information about Fossil? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

In addition to the Tourism page for Fossil, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Fossil.

Adding Fossil to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Fossil in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Fossil was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<8>

From that list, the Fossil post office opened in 1876.

We also found Fossil in the book titled Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Fossil.

Off-the-Road Links ...

The official website for Fossil: www.cityoffossil.org/

The official website for State of Oregon: https://www.oregon.gov/