"An Attractive Small Town Downtown" Independence by glabah

Independence was so named as it was thought it would one day be the central community to the Willamette Valley, and thus the true end of the Oregon Trail - which started in Independence, Missouri.

This never came to pass, as international trade and sea ports wound up being more important to attracting a large population than the very fetile farmland in the Willamette Valley. Sure, people came for the farmland, but the industrial and trade centers in the ports proved a huge attraction.

Today, the city has an attractive downtown area made up of a fair number of preserved older storefront buildings. Small specialty shops and restaurants (most of which are not big chains) line the main street through downtown.

The busiest road through the area is highway 99W, which actually passes somewhat between Monmouth and Independence, thus keeping the core downtown areas reasonably preserved as small towns.

However, development is coming to Independence as well. A recent huge concrete structure is several blocks west of the core of downtown and has "luxury condominiums and retail space" combined in the same structure.