Rose Lodge was first homesteaded by Jim Crowley. The first store was built by the Dodson family, and a post office was established in 1908 with Julia E. Dodson as postmaster. The name of the community came from the variety of roses planted by Julia in front of the post office building.

Transportation has always been a hardship for coastal residents and businesses. In 1871 Yaquina Bay Lighthouse was built to aid commercial shipping. It was replaced three years later by Yaquina Head Lighthouse. A railroad was completed at the end of 1884 and came from as far as a newly created town, Yaquina City, on the bay east of Newport.

Until 1893 the central coast was part of Benton County. Ben Jones, known as the father of Lincoln County, fed up with treatment of coastal residents by county officials in Corvallis, pushed through legislation to form Lincoln County.

Bridges were critical to land travel. Until 1936, when the Yaquina and Alsea Bay bridges were completed, vehicles could not travel the coastline without ferrying across bays or moving onto the beach. A drawbridge across the Siletz River was completed in 1926. This bridge was replaced in 1974 with a modern bridge 800 feet downriver.

The Salmon River Highway opened Saturday, July 19, 1930. The 22 mile cutoff leaves the Portland-Tillamook highway at Valley Junction, passes through Grand Ronde and Rose Lodge, and terminates at Otis. The road follows old Indian routes to the coast, the same ones white settlers followed as the easiest route through the mountains.