Editing Madras, Oregon (section)

==History==

The original [[plat]] for Madras was filed on July 18, 1902, by Scandinavian immigrant John A. Palmehn, for whom the town was originally named "Palmain". The name was rejected by the [[U.S. Postal Service]] over its similarity to a [[post office]] named [[Parmen, Oregon|Parmen]], and the name "Madras" was adopted, inspired by the [[Madras (cloth)|cloth fabric]] of the same name, itself named for the city of Madras (now [[Chennai]]) in India.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nm5YAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BPgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5786%2C2184435 | title=How did Madras get its name? | work=The Bulletin | date=Aug 20, 1958 | access-date= August 18, 2015 | pages=21}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Templeton |first=Amelia |date=July 17, 2012 |title=Madras, Almost Named Palmain, Turns 100 |url=http://www.opb.org/news/article/madras-almost-named-palmain-turns-100/ |publisher=[[Oregon Public Broadcasting]] |access-date=August 22, 2017}}</ref>

[[File:Bellamy House.jpg|thumb|Bellamy House in Madras, seen in a real photo postcard {{Circa|1920}}]]

Madras was incorporated as a city in 1911. An [[United States Army Air Corps|Army Air Corps]] base was built nearby during [[World War II]]. This airfield now serves as the [[Madras Municipal Airport]]. Homesteads approximately {{convert|5|mi|km|0}} north of the city on [[Agency Plains (Oregon)|Agency Plains]] were based on dryland wheat.

===GMO incident===
In 2003, a [[Scotts Company]] large field trial of [[GMO]] [[bentgrass]] near Madras resulted in pollen spreading the [[transgene]], which is [[Glyphosate|Roundup]]-resistant, over an area of {{convert|310|km2|mi2|order=flip}}.<ref name=watrud>{{cite journal | last1 = Watrud | first1 = L.S. | last2 = Lee | first2 = E.H. | last3 = Fairbrother | first3 = A. | last4 = Burdick | first4 = C. | last5 = Reichman | first5 = J.R. | last6 = Bollman | first6 = M. | last7 = Storm | first7 = M. | last8 = King | first8 = G.J. | last9 = Van de Water | first9 = P.K. | year = 2004 | title = Evidence for landscape-level, pollen-mediated gene flow from genetically modified creeping bentgrass with ''CP4 EPSPS'' as a marker | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 101 | issue = 4| pages = 14533–14538 | pmid = 15448206 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0405154101 | pmc = 521937 | doi-access = free }}</ref> 
Because the grower could not remove all [[genetically engineered]] plants, the [[U.S. Department of Agriculture]] fined the grower $500,000 for non-compliance with regulations in 2007.<ref>USDA [http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=2007/11/0350.xml USDA CONCLUDES GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CREEPING BENTGRASS INVESTIGATION] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208173644/http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=2007%2F11%2F0350.xml |date=2015-12-08 }} USDA Assesses The Scotts Company, LLC $500,000 Civil Penalty. 26 November 2007</ref>

===2017 solar eclipse===

The centerline of the path of totality of the [[Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017]], ran through the center of Madras. Because the city is located in a high desert environment and has consistently clear skies in August, it was considered a prime eclipse viewing location. All of the hotel and motel rooms in the area had been reserved for several years. The town had prepared for an influx of about 100,000 visitors for the eclipse.<ref>{{cite news | last =Elliott | first =Hannah | title =A Tiny Oregon Town Is Prepping to Be Ground Zero for Eclipse Tourism: Madras, Ore., has a high elevation and wide open spaces with no light pollution, so it's excellent for eclipse tourism. But it has a population of just 6,000; where is everyone else going to sleep?| newspaper =[[Bloomberg News]] | date =July 20, 2017 | url =https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-20/madras-oregon-visitor-guide-for-eclipse-tourists | access-date =July 29, 2017 }}</ref>