The post office for the community had been established with the name of Prine on April 13, 1871, but changed to Prineville on December 23, 1872.

Long the major town in central Oregon, Prineville was snubbed in 1911 when the railroad tycoons James J. Hill and Edward H. Harriman bypassed the city as they laid track south from The Dalles.

In a period when the presence of a railroad meant the difference between prosperity and an eventual fate as a ghost town, in a 1917 election, Prineville residents voted 355 to 1 to build their own railway, and raised the money to connect their town to the main line 19 miles (31 km) away.

Helped by timber harvests from the nearby Ochoco National Forest, the City of Prineville Railroad prospered for decades.

[8] Since the late 2000s, Apple and Facebook have each invested over $1 billion in multiple data centers located within Prineville city limits.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.92 square miles (28.28 km2), all of it land.

The company announced on December 12, 2006, that it would be moving the corporate headquarters to nearby Bend, where a growing number of its executives live, including Dick Borgman who became CEO on the same day.

In 2006, journalist Mike Rogoway noted: A decade ago, Schwab could have devastated Prineville by pulling out.

Federal jobs with the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service help anchor the economy [Judge Scott Cooper, Crook County administrator, was quoted], while a housing boom and a growing tourism industry have diversified the area.

[17][18] Since 2010, Facebook has funded multiple projects in Prineville, including water mains and new devices at local schools.

[citation needed] On February 21, 2012, Apple announced that it would open a "Green Data Center" on a 160-acre (65 ha) tract of land owned by the company.

[19][20] Since the late 2000s, Apple and Facebook have each invested over $1 billion in multiple data centers located within Prineville city limits.

JoBeth Hamon[22]- Oklahoma City Ward 6 Councillor Source:[23] High Desert Christian Academy