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You may be familiar with Ross Lane where it connects Old Stage and Hanley roads and then zigs and zags around Fry Family Farms and Channel 10 until it crosses Rossanley as far as Main Street. Most likely these were the borders of Col. John Ross’ donation land claim. Ross was an Indian fighter, treasure seeker, and entrepreneur. He and Elizabeth Hopwood were also the first couple to be married in Jacksonville—complete with a town pump ceremony, bear grease wedding cake, and

Josephine Martin Plymale, a Jacksonville suffragette, was in many ways a product of her time. She crossed the Oregon Trail with her family in a covered wagon, came to Jacksonville at age 17 as a teacher, and a year later married William Plymale. However, Josephine also defied the standards of her day. In a time when anti-suffragists claimed women had no time to vote, Josephine raised 12 children and worked in the family livery business; became an orchardist and was a frequen

The small brick building at 166 E. California Street, tucked between the Jacksonville Inn and the U.S. Hotel, originally housed the H. Judge and Nunan Saddlery and Harness Shop. Constructed in 1874 following the disastrous fire that had wiped out the entire block the previous year, the building replaced Horne’s Hall, a 2-story building with rooms and offices below and “a steel sprung floor on the second floor expressly made for dancing.” One year later, Henry Judge, one of th

What’s now known as the Judge Hanna House at the corner of 1st and Pine streets in Jacksonville was built in 1868 for another Judge, Legrand J.C. Duncan. Duncan, born in 1818, was older than most of the fortune seeking miners when he arrived in Jacksonville. After serving as Sheriff of Jackson County, Duncan was elected Jackson County Judge in 1860, a position he held for the next 10 years. Following his retirement, he took up the gentlemanly pursuit of gardening, perhaps ins

It was not until sometime after 1885 that Judge Hiero K. Hanna purchased and resided in the house at the corner of 1st and Pine streets in Jacksonville. The house had been built in 1868 for Judge, L.J.C. Duncan. A native of New York, Hanna headed west in 1850 when he was 18. He realized some mining success in California before moving on to Josephine County where he was elected District Attorney. Only after opening a law practice in Jacksonville in 1874 did Hanna actually stud

The house known as the “Sheriff’s House” at 410 East D Street in Jacksonville was actually built for Henry Judge around 1867, shortly after he married Anna O’Grady (shown here). Judge, a pioneer in the harness and saddlery business in the West, had arrived from San Francisco in the mid-1850s, and on several occasions returned there for 3 or more years at a time. At various times, Judge was also in partnership with Jeremiah Nunan, who later married Anna’s sister, Delia O’Grady

We’re continuing our saga of the house at the corner of 6th and D streets in Jacksonville, commonly called the “Sheriff’s House” but constructed around 1867 for pioneer harness and saddlery businessman Henry Judge. Within a year, Judge sold his new residence to Dr. Franklin Grube, an Oregon newcomer. Grube, a graduate of Yale College and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, had served as a member of the Kansas House of Representatives prior to enlisting as an assist

Robert Kahler was part of a prominent Southern Oregon family whose “doings” were frequently reported in the press. In 1852, the Kahler family had emigrated from Ohio, settling on a donation land claim near Fort Lane in Jackson County (later Camp White during WWII and now the White City Veterans facility). Robert was one of 3 sons who became prominent Jacksonville residents. He was a successful druggist, selling not only drugs, but also books, stationery, paints, oils, and

Although now a retail store, Jacksonville’s 120 West California Street address is one of the few town sites that once was used continuously for medical related purposes for 140 years! As early as 1855, G.W. Greer, “physician and surgeon,” occupied an office at this site, part of an assemblage of shops fronting California Street and known as Kennedy’s Row. In 1862, L.S. Thompson had joined Greer in dispensing drugs and medicines. Thompson purchased this lot and a year late

In the late fall of 1880, Robert Kahler built the house at the corner of North 6th and E streets for “occupancy by himself and family at cost of $1,500.” Kahler was a member of a prominent Jacksonville family that came to Southern Oregon from Ohio in 1852. He became a successful druggist, selling not only drugs, but also books, stationery, paints, oils, and other goods. He built a new brick drugstore next to the Beekman Bank on California Street the same year as he built this