Editing Halfway, Oregon (section)

==History==
The community was named for the fact it is roughly halfway between [[Pine, Oregon|Pine]] and [[Cornucopia, Oregon|Cornucopia]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Moyer|first1=Armond|last2=Moyer|first2=Winifred|title=The origins of unusual place-names|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89058322223;view=1up;seq=64|year=1958|publisher=Keystone Pub. Associates|page=60}}</ref> While a post office was established in 1887, the town was [[plat]]ted in another location in 1907, the post office moved there in 1908,<ref>{{cite book|last=Bailey|first=Barbara Ruth|title=Main Street: Northeastern Oregon|publisher=[[Oregon Historical Society]]|year=1982|isbn=0-87595-073-6|pages=54,108}}</ref> and it incorporated in 1909.

===Half.com name change===
Halfway earned a place in the history of the [[dot-com bubble|dot-com era]] in December 1999, when it received and accepted an offer to rename itself as [[Half.com]], after the [[e-commerce]] start-up, for one year in exchange for {{US$|110,000}}, 20 computers for the school, and other financial subsidies. It became the first city in the world to rename itself as a dot com.<ref name="observer" /> Among the less obvious reasons the town was chosen were its small population size (and thus its likelihood to accept such an offer) and the city's location, which fit perfectly into Half.com's marketing scheme. "They're within four miles of the [[45th parallel north|45th parallel]] which makes it halfway between the equator and the North Pole".<ref name="Wired">{{Citation
| last = Arent| first = Lindsey
| url= https://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/1999/12/33181
| title = Welcome to Half.com, Oregon
| work = Wired.com: Politics/Law
| publisher = Wired.com
| access-date = December 30, 2011
| date=December 20, 1999}}</ref> The [[proclamation]] did not legally change its name.<ref name="About" /> The city created and posted two signs at its borders that greeted visitors with "America's First Dot-com City". The city auctioned one of these off in September 2007 for {{US$|1,000}}; the winner was Half.com's founder [[Josh Kopelman]].<ref>{{Citation
| last = Dujmovic| first = Anne
| title = First Dot-com City' auctions off sign of the times
| work = Cnet.com News Blogs
| publisher = Cnet.com
| date = September 24, 2007
| url= http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9783920-7.html?tag=mncol;txt
| access-date = December 30, 2011}}</ref>