SENECA – Whoever coined the saying “Big things come in small packages” just might have had Seneca in mind.

Not many towns with a population of 200 can boast having their own 9-hole pasture golf course and shooting range, not to mention a handful of businesses – offering gas, food, groceries and lodging – and a spacious community park with a variety of amenities and features.

All this, plus some of the most picturesque scenery and prime hunting grounds Oregon has to offer.

Seneca Mayor Andrea Combs grew up on a ranch in Bear Valley and attended Seneca School. She returned to the area in 1998 with her husband, John, and knows what a special place it is.

“I love this town and the people in it,” Combs said.

“We, John and I, have worked to make a life here not because we were stuck and didn’t have any other options, but because we knew there was no better place to raise our children than in this small town,” she said.

City recorder/manager Josh Walker spent much of his youth in Seneca, and moved his family back there to make their home after he and his wife, Mindy, finished their careers in the military.

Current city councilors are Sue Holliday, Brad Smith, Melissa Wenick and Bill Williams.

Combs said Seneca is working to move forward with improving the town’s wastewater system. The town completed a recent survey of residents on the issue as another step in that process.

Annual events in town include the Seneca Oyster Feed in May, a tradition 20 years strong that draws visitors from throughout Oregon and other states as well. The Oyster Feed is hosted by the Bear Valley Meadows Golf Committee to fund improvements to the golf course. Currently, the committee is working to have new greens put in at each hole.

The Seneca Stampede cross-country horse race has also been held in the area in recent years.

Seneca School serves students in grades K-6. The prominent red building in the center of town hosts not only school activities, but community gatherings and events, too.

While homesteaders had been moving into the Bear Valley as far back as the late 1880s, it was the arrival of the Edward Hines Lumber Company in the 1920s which established Seneca as a thriving company town.

The town is noted in history books for having the coldest official temperature ever recorded in Oregon – negative 54 degrees on Feb. 10, 1933. But don’t be fooled by the town’s nickname, “Oregon’s Icebox.” Seneca gardeners have learned to adapt to the harsh conditions and short summer season in this geographic “bowl” and even have their own community garden.

City council meetings are at 6 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month at City Hall, 106 A Ave. in Seneca.

City hall hours are 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Thursday.

For more information, call Seneca City Hall at 541-932-4688.