Editing Florence, Oregon (section)

==History==
The Florence area was originally inhabited by the [[Siuslaw people|Siuslaw]] tribe of Native Americans. Some claim that the city was named after state senator [[A. B. Florence]], who represented Lane County from 1858 to 1860; another claim is that Florence was named after a French vessel that was wrecked at the mouth of the [[Siuslaw River]] on February 17, 1875.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.northwestmagazines.com/oregon_coast_florence_origin_of_name.php |title=Northwest Magazines |access-date=February 5, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820063331/http://www.northwestmagazines.com/oregon_coast_florence_origin_of_name.php |archive-date=August 20, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Exploding whale===
On November 12, 1970, Florence was the site of a famous scene when the [[Oregon Department of Transportation]] used 20 cases of explosives to try to [[Exploding whale|blow up a dead beached whale]], with unintended consequences.<ref name="linnmantranscript">{{Cite web |title=The Exploding Whale - Annotated transcript of the video |url=https://www.theexplodingwhale.com/evidence/resources/transcript |access-date=January 8, 2007 |website=www.theexplodingwhale.com |language=en-US |author=Paul Linnman ([[KATU]] TV) |others=transcribed by Hackstadt, J.; Hackstadt, S. |archive-date=January 2, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070102203452/http://www.theexplodingwhale.com/evidence/resources/transcript/ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=January 2011}}<ref name="snopes">{{cite web |last1=Mikkelson |first1=Barbara |last2=Mikkelson |first2=David P. |date=March 19, 2000 |title=Thar She Blows! |url=http://www.snopes.com/critters/disposal/whale.htm |access-date=January 8, 2007 |work=Critter Country |publisher=snopes.com |archive-date=March 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200329075007/http://www.snopes.com/critters/disposal/whale.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="transcriptwhaledisposal">{{cite web |date=July 1994 |title=Son of Blubber |url=http://tafkac.org/animals/exploding.whale/son_of_blubber.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717092953/http://tafkac.org/animals/exploding.whale/son_of_blubber.html |archive-date=July 17, 2011 |access-date=January 8, 2007 |publisher=Oregon Department of Transportation employee newspaper, TranScript }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Video: The exploding whale | date=March 22, 2006 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_t44siFyb4 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/1_t44siFyb4 |archive-date=December 11, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=March 22, 2006 |publisher=YouTube}}{{cbignore }}</ref> In 2020, residents voted to name a new park Exploding Whale Memorial Park.<ref>{{cite news |last=Pietsch |first=Bryan |date=June 20, 2020 |title='Exploding Whale' Park Memorializes Blubber Blast 50 Years Later |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/20/us/exploding-whale-memorial-park.html |access-date=June 20, 2020 |archive-date=June 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620214802/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/20/us/exploding-whale-memorial-park.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Accidental ban on sex===
The Florence City Council brought national attention to Florence after it approved a poorly-worded ordinance at its regular meeting on November 26, 1977. Intending to prevent people from having sexual intercourse in view of bystanders, the council approved a measure that made it illegal to have sex "while in or in view of a public or private place." Days later, a re-reading of the ordinance showed that it applied to sex in private. According to the [[United Press International]] report that followed days later, "City officials said they would not enforce the new ordinance until it could be amended."<ref>{{Cite news |author= |date=December 2, 1977 |title=Ban on Sex Accidentally Imposed in Oregon City |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-choose-words-caref/130330142/ |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |page=I-5 }}</ref>