Boise State News May 26, 2021
Robinette School at left. In the distance is the Robinette depot, dry kiln and mill before floodwaters inundated the town in 1958. Photos courtesy of the Baker County Library District
www.bakerlib.org
Once upon a time, towns like Robinette, Oregon, dotted the American West. Robinette had a train depot, a hotel, and a tavern shaped like a military quonset hut. Residents tended orchards where trees hung heavy with peaches, apricots and walnuts. Robinette’s schoolhouse may have been the most important building in town. Old black and white photos show Christmas pageants there. They capture dances and holiday meals where guests wore overalls and sat at long tables covered by checkered tablecloths.