Urban renewal in a rural town center
The city of Turner lies 10 miles south of Salem among the forested hills of rural Oregon, a small railroad town built around the timber industries since 1905. In the summer of 2017, the City of Turner created the Urban Renewal Agency, a collection of city officials and local business owners dedicated to redeveloping Turner’s downtown area. The program allocated funds for small businesses across Turner and has allowed many new restaurants, boutiques and other small businesses to survive during the pandemic and expand their operations to meet new demands. “We’ve done a lot of work in Turner to make it an attractive place for small businesses,” says Scott McClure, a resident and the city administrator for the City of Turner. “Lots of our local businesses are based out of Turner because of the lower cost of operation, but they can do most of their business in the surrounding towns.”
Small-town businesses with extensive offerings
Residents of Turner must make the 10-minute commute into the suburbs of Salem for most of their retail and grocery shopping, where national retailers like Costco, Walmart and The Home Depot make shopping convenient and fun. Several smaller grocery stores and restaurants are available within Turner, like Dollar General and Center Market, a small 24-hour market and deli near Turner’s city center. Storm Coffee Company began as a small trailer-based coffee company in 2018 before expanding into a brick-and-mortar boutique in 2021, selling home decor and clothing along with their craft coffee and homemade pastries. Turnaround Cafe is Turner’s go-to spot for breakfast and lunch, a locally owned eatery inside a former bank. For dinner, the town gathers at Angel’s Share Barrel House, where the intricate woodwork, high ceilings and stained glass windows of the original 1891 compliment the gourmet burgers and generous beer list.
Craftsman-style homes among the pines
The homes in Turner reflect the neighborhood’s rural spirit and enthusiasm for the great outdoors, with plenty of outdoor living space and large garages to store boats, campers and other toys. The narrow streets are lined with tall pine trees, and climb up steep forested hills as you move further east from Turner Road, the town’s unofficial Main Street. The housing market consists primarily of Craftsman-style homes built within the last 30 years, along with ranch and contemporary-style houses with Craftsman accents. Many of the houses on the neighborhood's northern end enjoy private access to Turner Lake, featuring private docks and outdoor patios overlooking the water. Prices in Turner range from $330,000 to $630,000, though newer properties being built within the hills surrounding Turner can reach up to $1.5 million.
Back to school in Turner
Students in Turner begin their education at Turner Elementary, a B-plus-rated school on Niche with a student-teacher ratio of 20-to-1. From there, students graduate to Cascade Junior High School — which also earns a B-plus grade on Niche — and Cascade Senior High School, a B-rated school with an average SAT score of 1170 and regularly attend prestigious local universities like Oregon State and the University of Oregon.
Waterfront recreation in Turner’s city parks
The Turner community comes together for playdates and ball games at Turner City Park, a quiet neighborhood park with a playground and baseball diamond on the banks of Mill Creek. Turner Lake Park is the city’s newest public space, home to a boat ramp and beach on the banks of Turner Lake. During the summer, Mill Creek is full of inner tubes, rafts and kayaks as residents float the lazy waters of Mill Creek as it floats through town. On rainy days, residents can drive into Salem to explore the museums and heritage centers in Salem’s historic downtown district.
Getting around in Marion County
Located among the small towns scattered throughout the pine forests south of Salem, Turner rests inside a fork of Mill Creek as it flows north into the Willamette River. Residents enjoy the quiet lifestyle of a rural Pacific Northwest mountain town — Turner is over 3 miles from the nearest Interstate and the convenience of living less than 10 miles from Salem, the capital of Oregon and the state’s third most populous city. Locals can commute into Salem via Interstate 5, and the sandy beaches of Oregon’s Pacific Coast are only 70 miles to the west.
