Merrill is an agricultural area and home to the Annual Potato Festival! It was named after a rancher named Nathan S. Merrill, who settled in Merrill, Oregon, in 1890.

The first business in Merrill was the Grist Mill. Merrill was the birthplace and boyhood home of Carl Barks, the Disney comics artist who created Scrooge, McDuck, and many others. Merrill is home to the Lost River Junior and Senior High School Raiders.

The Klamath Basin is a growing region that grows commercial chip potato and fresh potato markets. This area produces the finest baking potatoes, red potatoes, yellow potatoes, and fingerlings. If you enjoy In N’ Out or a bag of Kettle chips, there is a good chance they might have been grown in Merrill, Oregon!

Merrill experiences warm to hot summers, with average monthly temperatures above 80.6 °F. As of the 2010 census, 844 people, 308 households, and 221 families residing in the city.