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The original 1-story, wood-frame farmhouse portion of the home located at 380 North 4th was built around 1866 for Addison Helms, probably soon after his marriage to Ann Ross. Helms had acquired the northern half of the entire block from James Clugage, the original donation land claim owner of most of the Jacksonville townsite. Although Helms was a resident of Jacksonville for over 30 years, little is known about him. He and his wife had no children. He was twice elected Marsh

Did you know that Alice Applegate Sargent was the first American woman to receive a full military funeral? Her name should sound familiar. She was the daughter of Lindsey Applegate, who with his brother Jesse, created the Applegate Trail. Alice led an unconventional life. After growing up in the toll house on the first toll road over the Siskiyous, she married Herbert Howland Sargent, a newly commissioned West Point graduate. As a military wife, she accompanied Herbert on

We knew that the Von Helms family, the original owners of Jacksonville’s 1860 Table Rock Billiard Saloon and the lovely 1878 Italianate style home at the corner of South Oregon and Pine streets, suffered several family tragedies. Three daughters died in epidemics. Another was murdered, but we’ve only recently come across more details. Not that we would gossip, but…. It seems that daughter Anna had married Frederick B. Martin, a salesman for the Pacific Biscuit Company. He

“Some of us wait for a “Plan B.” Artenicia experienced a “Plan B” life becoming an unanticipated pioneer and an unexpected 85-year-old movie star. In 1851, Artenicia Riddle was happily settled in Springfield, Illinois, married to John Chapman, boasting a 1-year-old son when her husband suddenly died—5 days before her parents were leaving for Oregon! As a 21-year-old widow with a baby, she had few choices so scrambled to gather provisions and join them in the journey across t

Memorial Day has Historic Jacksonville, Inc. thinking about others who have sacrificed their lives for the public good. Did you know that August Singler was the first Oregon sheriff and the first (and to date only) Jackson County sheriff to be killed in the line of duty? Shortly after being elected sheriff in November 1912, Singler, his wife Rose, and their brood of 8 had moved into the sheriff’s quarters at the corner of East 6th and D streets in Jacksonville behind the 188

In 1896 a group of French settlers arrived in Jacksonville intent on establishing a large-scale grape and wine industry. One of these individuals, Francois Loran, was granted the parcel of land located at 860 Hill Street where he constructed the initial box house that still stands on the site. In 1918, the property was acquired by Auguste Petard, another Frenchman and winemaker. Petard had come to America in the late 1890s to make his fortune mining gold—only to find he was 5

Did you know that Ben Johnson Mountain in the Applegate is named for a Black pioneer? Historically, Southern Oregon has had only a small population of Black residents so it’s remarkable that a local mountain landmark is named for a Black man! In fact, when Ben Johnson lived near Ruch in the 1860s, the state’s “exclusion laws” made it technically illegal for a Black to reside in Oregon. Johnson had been born into slavery in Alabama in 1834. In 1853, he had crossed the plains

The Italianate style home at 475 N. 5th Street was built for Benjamin Franklin Dowell, named for his grandmother’s uncle, Benjamin Franklin. Dowell served as prosecuting attorney for Oregon’s 1st Judicial District and as U.S. District Attorney. For 14 years he owned the Oregon Sentinel newspaper, the first newspaper in the Pacific Northwest to support the abolition of slavery and the first to nominate Ulysses S. Grant for president. The is one of the earliest Italianate style

Did you know that Oregon had the nation’s first female governor? And it was 3 ½ years before Oregon women gained the right to vote? The woman was Carrie (aka Carolyn/Caralyn) B. Shelton. She was acting governor of Oregon for one weekend – 9 a.m. Saturday, February 27, through 10 a.m. Monday, March 1, 1909. It seems that the outgoing governor, George Earle Chamberlain, had been elected to the Senate and had to leave for Washington, D.C., before his term was over if he was to m

Carl Berthold Rostel, born in 1849, was an immigrant from Germany who found his way to the Rogue Valley. According to The Oregon Sentinel advertisements from the 1880s, he had been an “Asst. Surgeon of the German Army.” Here he chose to be a “Professional Hair Cutter” and became known as “The Popular Barber and Hair Dresser” in the Orth Building on S. Oregon Street in Jacksonville. An 1881 issue of the Sentinel noted that “Rostel shaves in the highest style of the art” and is

You may be aware that Cornelius Beekman, Jacksonville’s wealthiest and most prominent pioneer, was a philanthropist, but did you know that his daughter Carrie followed in his footsteps? March is Women’s History Month so Historic Jacksonville, Inc. is sharing the stories of local women, many of them previously untold. You may have heard how Cornelius gave money to build schools and churches. Carrie initially did things on a more personal level, even after she moved to Portla

Cornelius C. Beekman came to Jacksonviille in 1853 as an express rider for Cram Rogers & Company, carrying gold, mail, and newspapers over the Siskiyous to Yreka 2 to 3 times a week—a 67 mile journey by horse or mule. When Cram Rogers went belly up in 1856, he purchased their horses and corral and opened Beekman’s Express at the southwest corner of California and 3rd streets in Jacksonville, a site he shared with Dr. Charles Brooks’ Drugstore. A large safe that he bought to s

For three years before Cornelius Beekman opened the gold dust office that preceded the bank we know today, he was an express rider for Cram & Rogers, carrying mail, parcels, newspapers, and gold over the Siskiyous between Yreka and Jacksonville. We’ve thought for years that Cornelius Beekman moved to Jacksonville in 1853 when he became an express rider between those 2 towns, but it seems he may have remained based in Yreka. When Cram & Rogers went belly up in 1856, he purch

Did you know that Cornelius C. Beekman, probably Jacksonville’s wealthiest and most prominent pioneer, was also a benevolent Santa Claus? You may know that Beekman was a prominent businessman and public servant. He had banking, mining, and real estate interests, as well as multiple other investments. He also served on the town’s school board; was a town trustee and mayor; donated land for churches, schools, and a library; was drafted as a candidate for Governor of Oregon; and

The 1863 C.C. Beekman Bank was Jacksonville’s original Wells Fargo agency and the oldest financial institution in the Pacific Northwest. But surely there were financial institutions before 1863! What gives? Cornelius C. Beekman came to Jacksonville in 1853 as an express rider for Cram, Rogers & Co., transporting goods and gold between Jacksonville and Yreka, and riding the 67 miles over the Siskiyous 2 to 3 times a week. When the company failed in 1856, he bought their stab

Today we’re using our imagination to visit a residence no longer on the map—the home of David Linn, one of the town’s most prolific early builders. Born in Guernsey County, Ohio, in 1826, Linn was a self-supporting carpenter and cabinet-maker at age 14 and an active contractor and builder by 25. Arriving in Jacksonville in the spring of 1852, Linn was instrumental in transforming the mining camp of Table Rock into the town of Jacksonville. During his active career, he built

Dr. Will Jackson was a popular Jacksonville dentist from the late 1860s to the late 1880s. Actually, he was probably the only Jacksonville dentist during that period. Although he pulled teeth and supplied “nice natural looking teeth…for those wanting,” he is also believed to have been the first dentist in the Valley to use fillings as an alternative to extraction. A colleague remembered him as “quite a large man, with black hair…who wore that determined look that made the sma

Have you ever pondered the Giant Sequoia that marks the Jacksonville Woodlands Sarah Zigler trail head? Giant Sequoias are not native to this area, so how did it get there? All of this acreage was originally part of Britt’s donation land claim. Peter Britt was not only a photographer, he was also a horticulturalist. In fact, he’s considered the father of Southern Oregon’s commercial horticulture industry and his “Britt Gardens” were a major tourist attraction. Britt planted

Have you ever noticed the 2-story Carpenter Gothic style farmhouse at 3995 South Stage Road just past Dancin Vineyards? In the late 1800s, this was home to Emil DeRoboam and his family. DeRoboam was the nephew of U.S. Hotel proprietress Madame Jeanne DeRoboam Holt and prominent in his own right. After immigrating to the United States in 1871 with his widowed father, Jean St. Luc DeRoboam, Emil became a wagon and carriage maker. The Democratic Times newspaper at various tim

The location of Jacksonville’s first schoolhouse may be open to debate, but surely we know who was the town’s first teacher. Or do we? Rev. Thomas Fletcher Royal is credited with having established the first school in Jacksonville in 1853, albeit we’re not sure where. One source says the school was organized by Royal’s sister, Mary Elizabeth Royal, and that Jane McCully, a trained schoolteacher who was the 3rd “proper” white woman to arrive in Jacksonville, was the first ins