Lakeview’s stark beauty and calm nature make it a great place to make a home.    Chartered in 1874 by sheep and cattle ranchers who settled in Lake County in the 1860's.  However Lake County was not founded until Feb. 1875.  In 1900 a fire consumed Lakeview burning up 75 businesses.  The town was rebuilt a year later and most building owners opted for iron roofs.  Lakeview had a scare in 1906 when a second fire threatened some homes and the community but was contained early on.  Lakeview faced a third fire in 1916 and it engulfed most of the homes that had escaped the first two fires. 

Lakeview is the County seat and the hub of most county activity for 60 or more miles.  We have shopping that meets just about everyone’s needs including: a hardware store, a building supply store, clothing store for both men and women, furniture store, radio shack, a number of restaurants, three banks and a credit union, a county library a bakery two grocery stores, two new car dealerships and many gas stations.  Lakeview also has a 47 bed hospital with a 24 hour emergency room and long term care.  We have six doctors, three dentists and one optometrist. Lakeview also has a fire department with volunteer help as well as three volunteer disaster units, one in Lakeview, Paisley and North Lake.

Lake County is the third largest county in Oregon covering an area of approximately 8340 square miles. Of that 78 percent of the land is owned and managed by the state and federal government.

A large portion of the county is on a high desert plateau and the other part is made of broken fault formations.  Abert Rim located north of Lakeview is the largest exposed fault in North America.  Standing 2000 feet above Abert Lake the rim runs North and South approximately 30 miles.  East of Lakeview you can find Hart Mountain, another block fault formation.

Lakeview has four different schools covering grades kindergarten to grade 12.  There is also a pre-school and head start program.  Lakeview's School District enrolls around 900 students with a yearly drop out rate lower than the state average.  60 percent of graduating seniors continue their education with SAT scores higher than the average in both math and science.  Lake County also has four top-notch scholarship programs to assist college bound students.

Lake County’s economy is based primarily on timber, wood products, government offices and agriculture.  Approximately 82,000 acres is used for agricultural purposes and 70 percent of agricultural sales is from cattle.  The agriculture aspect of Lake County helps the county maintain its “Old West” atmosphere and charisma.  The Fremont National Forest produces much of Lake County’s wood manufacturing bringing in about 20 percent of the County’s total payroll employment.