[6] The communities of Astoria and Portland agitated for closer quarantine and disinfecting facilities, but did not want them too close and so proposed a site across the river.

[3] The location selected for the station was Knappton Cove, which had a defunct fish cannery with a wharf and buildings that could be converted.

The building which had served as the cannery superintendent's house became the residence for the quarantine station caretaker.

[3] A new building for disinfecting ships was built in 1900,[5] and a hospital (also known as a lazaretto or pesthouse) for ill crew and passengers was added in 1912.

[5] The Sunday Oregonian described the station in 1921: Before any vessel coming from a foreign port can discharge or load cargo in the Columbia River it must pass quarantine at Astoria.

[5]During the 1920s, the number of immigrants decreased and new methods of disinfecting ships while at anchor reduced the need for the quarantine station.

[3] The U.S. Public Health Service declared the station surplus and transferred ownership to the U.S. Coast Guard in 1942.