Dee was named for Thomas D. Dee, a business associate of the late David C. Eccles and a stockholder in the Oregon Lumber Company. The name was used when the lumber company mill was built at Dee in 1906. Judge Dee died in 1905.


Built along the lumber company's Mount Hood Railroad, Dee appeared in Ripley's Believe It Or Not as the "Backdoor Community" because all the houses faced the tracks, not the street. In the 1950's, the town was dismantled. But today, the entire surrounding area is called "Dee."