Oregon Secretary of State

Protecting Oregon Beaches Web Exhibit

Photo of a woman with a bicycle, 2 women on horses on the beach. Haystack Rock is in the background.
A young woman on a bicycle talks with two young women riding horses on the beach at Cannon Beach in 1939. By then, the entire Oregon Coast Highway (U.S. Highway 101) had been completed and the transportation rationale for public beaches had dwindled. Eight years later, the legislature recognized this evolution by changing the designation from “highway” to “recreation area.” (Oregon State Archives Photo)