Blog

Last week Historic Jacksonville, Inc. celebrated the World Series and the early 1900s when baseball was “king” and our Ray’s Food Place at 401 North 5th Street in Jacksonville was the site of the town’s baseball field. Well, by the 1930s and 40s, the automobile had become “king” and the baseball field had been replaced by Henspeter’s Service Station and Motor Court—you remember the little cabins that used to house weary travelers before the current motel concept became popula

In 1876, John Herberger was deeded almost the entire block on which the house at 415 W. Oak now stands at the corner of Oak and 1st streets. He had probably arrived in Jacksonville only shortly before he purchased the property. Born in Austria in 1839, Herberger was a carpenter by trade so very likely constructed his home around 1877, providing his future family a lovely view of town and valley. Sometime after 1880 he married. He and his wife, Belle Elizabeth, had one survi

Have you ever noticed the hops plants growing on the field at Bigham Knoll at the east end of E Street? The German-speaking immigrants who contributed so much to early Jacksonville culture also brought with them their recipes for German lager with its pronounced flavors of malt and hops. Joseph Wetterer and Veit Shutz were 2 of the most prominent early brewers. Initially, these early brewmeisters probably grew their own hops, a flowering vine trained to grow on tall strin

The Improved Order of Red Men was a popular fraternal society claiming descent from the instigators of the Boston Tea Party. Jacksonville boasted three tribes—the English-speaking Pocahontas Tribe No. 1, the German-speaking Stamm No. 148, and the Haymakers Association. In 1884, the societies jointly contracted with brick mason George Holt for the construction of Red Men’s Hall at the southwest corner of California and 3rd streets on the site of the former New State Billiard a

In 1856, Scottish doctor John McCully constructed the first 2-story brick building in Jacksonville. In 1861, the building was leased to Jacksonville’s Lodge No. 10 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; they subsequently purchased it in 1865. Beginning with 15 members in 1860, the Lodge quickly attracted many prominent local residents. One such member was Judge Silas Day. In 1868 he became Grand Master of the Order’s Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana chapters. If he w

May is teacher appreciation month, but it’s questionable whether teachers were truly appreciated in the late 1800s—or at least whether female teachers were. Teaching was one of the few acceptable occupations that single, middle-class females in need of some income could pursue—and then only until they married. The work was hard and the standards high. Most schools of the time were 1-room and teachers were expected to instill reading, writing, math, history, and geography i

The Ish family plot is the most photographed plot in Jacksonville’s Pioneer Cemetery. Sarah’s husband, Jacob Ish, son of a Virginia plantation owner, had come west in 1861 to escape the Civil War. He purchased 320 acres about three miles from Jacksonville and started a ranch, now the site of Ish Ranch Estates off West McAndrews. When opportunity arose, Ish added to his holdings. He eventually became one of the largest landowners in Jackson County with over 5,000 acres, inc

Stone mason J.C. Whipp is responsible for many of the marble monuments in Jacksonville’s pioneer cemetery as well as cemeteries throughout southern Oregon and northern California. He opened his Jacksonville Marble Works around 1885. They were originally located “just north of town,” but after the 1888 fire destroyed David Linn’s furniture factory, he moved them to the corner of California and Oregon streets. Whipp was described as “doing the best of work,” and having “no peer

Stone mason J.C. Whipp came to Jacksonville from Portland in 1883 to build the foundation for Jackson County’s historic courthouse, including laying its cornerstone. He later became noted for his marble cemetery headstones, but he also built culverts and bridges. In 1887, he turned the Methodist Episcopal Church 180 degrees to face the new North 5th Street thoroughfare, and in 1893 he created a stone mantelpiece that won a blue ribbon at the Chicago World’s Fair.

Today we’re also asking for your help with a history mystery! We’re trying to locate Emil DeRoboam’s Jackson County Poor Farm. We recently told you how Emil DeRoboam was the farm’s superintendent. He apparently took over from his aunt, Madame Jeanne DeRoboam Holt, proprietress of the U.S. Hotel. She had obtained the contract for the county “poor hospital” in 1880, housing the indigent for $1.49 a day in a building she rented adjacent to her Franco-American Hotel, the current