The community was named for the farm of Dr. Nelson G. Blalock, a Civil War veteran who had pioneered in the Walla Walla area.[5][7] He established an agricultural operation of several thousand acres on the flat land here along the Columbia River.[5][7] The area was first settled in 1879, and Blalock post office was established in 1881.[5][6] The town was platted in 1881 by the Blalock Wheat Growing Company.[7] The first two buildings, a railroad station and a warehouse, were built by A. J. McLellan, OR&N superintendent of the construction of bridges and buildings.[7] By 1884, the community was shipping wheat and there were daily stagecoachestoHeppner; the population was 50.[6] People and businesses listed in the Polk Directory at that time included two clergymen, a saloon, a wagonmaker, a ferryman, a hotel, a general store, a lawyer, and a dealer in lumber, coal, and feed.[6] In 1904, the town handled about 750,000 bushels of wheat.[7] By 1905, the town had two grain warehouses, a hotel, a general store, a livery and stage stable, a real estate office and an agricultural implement factory.[7] In 1940, Blalock had a population of 19.[8] The post office closed in 1959.[5] In 1968, the community was inundated by the backwaters from the John Day Dam.[5]
