It is 38.62 miles (62.15 km) long and runs north–south, entirely within Baker County.

OR 245 was the highest-numbered state route in Oregon before 2002, when the state began issuing route numbers to previously unrouted highways.

The Dooley Mountain Highway can be traced to a private toll road constructed in the mid-19th century.

It was owned by John J. Dooley, an Eastern Oregon pioneer who arrived in 1862, and the mountain was subsequently named after him.

In 1889, it was acquired by Baker County and became a public road.