McMinnville is a city in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. It is the county seat and largest city of Yamhill County.
The Spruce Goose
A local museum hosts perhaps one of the most bizarre aircraft ever produced. Howard Hughes, an eccentric rich person, had gotten it into his head to build a transatlantic freight flying boat in order to sell it on lucrative military contracts as a cargo airplane. However, due to wartime restrictions on the availability of aluminum, the prototype had to be built from birchwood to achieve a lightweight airframe. The prototype only ever achieved a single test flight in 1947 (by which point all hope of military contracts was of course gone) but remained the holder of the "largest wingspan of any aircraft" record into the 2010s.
Private automobile is the easiest way in to McMinnville. State Highway 99W enters from the north and south. State Highway 18 bypasses town along the south from its junction with Hwy 99W southwest of town and ends at Hwy 99W east of town.
McMinnville Municipal Airport 📍 () has two runways, one of which is in good repair. There are no scheduled commercial airline services but the airport is open to general aviation. It is located on 4000 SE Cirrus Rd, across Hwy 18 from the Evergreen Aviation Museum south of town.
The nearest airport for commercial airline services is in Portland (IATA: PDX). Most travelers rent a car there and drive down to McMinnville.
The main bus station for Yamhill Transit's local public transportation and intercity buses is at the Yamhill Transit Center 📍 on NE 2nd & Irvine St (800 NE 2nd St). They operate intercity and local buses to: - 11 to West Salem via Amity along Hwy 99W & 22. Cherriots #17 bus continues from the W Salem Transit Center into the downtown Transit Center. - 22 to Grand Ronde via Sheridan, Willamina & Spirit Mountain Casino along Hwy 18. Onward connections to Lincoln City or Salem with Tillamook Transit #60x or 70x from the Grand Ronde Community Center or Spirit Mountain Casino. - 33 to Hillsboro via Lafayette, Carlton, Yamhill, Gaston & Forest Grove along Hwy 47 & 8. Onward connections to Portland via the 'MAX Blue Line' train from Hillsboro. - 44/44x to Tigard (nearest point to Portland) via Newberg & Sherwood along Hwy 99W. Tri-Met #12 or 94 bus continues into Portland from Tigard. - 1-4. Local public transportation within the McMinnville area on 4 separate routes.
Connections to Amtrak, Greyhound, Oregon Point and other bus lines are in Portland and Salem.
2nd-order administrative division
Primary administrative division