In 1968 a potato blight of nematodes ended large scale potato production in this area. In 1973 the railroad closed its depot in Metolius. By 1990 almost all mint production had ended due to root rot. Now in 2007 most agricultural production around Metolius is marginal. In 1950 Metolius Elementary began to grow out of the 1913 high school building with a new gym and two classrooms. Four more classrooms are built in 1955 to teach the children in the town which was growing due to the influx of agricultural workers and workers here to build the three dams which now block the Deschutes River. About 1963 the old high school is destroyed (students now go to Madras) and the elementary was again expanded to include an office, a library and two more classrooms. Its last expansion occurred in 2000 with the addition of six new classrooms and a large modern library. The first Spanish speaking people families begin to settle in Metolius in the 1950s drawn by field work hoeing, irrigating and harvesting as well as working in the potato sheds. Non-union  mills converting scrap wood from lumber operations hired many more Spanish speaking workers from Mexico. Now over 50% of the students at Metolius Elementary speak Spanish at home. Around 1970, a fire in the city's Post Office led to the end of the ZIP code for the community, and it afterward shared the ZIP code of nearby Madras. However, in late 2003, city leaders enlisted the help of U.S. Representative Greg Walden to reclaim the code. "We're just trying to get the town to have its own personality again," said Metolius mayor Darrell Agee. "Right now, it's solely a bedroom community for Madras. The ZIP code is just one step toward the future." Despite several attempts to start businesses, Metolius serves mainly as a bedroom community to Madras and other larger towns up to away. A prison is being built in Madras, and new homes are being built for its workers. As of the census of 2010, there were 710 people, 275 households, and 190 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 297 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 75.6% White, 1.0% African American, 3.8% Native American, 0.6% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 14.8% from other races, and 4.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 23.7% of the population.