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The Thomas G. Reames house at 540 E. California Street grew along with Reames’ family and his prosperity. In 1852, a 13-year-old Reames had driven a wagon across the Oregon Trail and then worked as a stevedore for the Hudson Bay Company. The lure of gold and land brought him to Jacksonville 2 years later. Over the next few years, Reames served as deputy sheriff, ran a livery stable, and opened a prosperous mercantile business. He eventually became partners with his neighbo

The house at 285 North 4th Street, one of Jacksonville’s few Queen Anne style homes, was built around 1898 by Thomas J. Kenney. Kenney’s father, Daniel M. Kenney, had opened the town’s first trading post in 1852, a tent structure at the corner of Oregon and California streets. His mother was Elizabeth T’Vault, daughter of lawyer, politician, and newspaper publisher William T’Vault. At age 8, Thomas began working as a “chore boy” in a livery stable, became an apprentice harnes

Thomas Joseph Kenney (also Kinney or Kenny) was described in the 1904 publication, Portrait and Biographical Record of Western Oregon, as “a worthy representative of the esteemed and valued citizens of Jacksonville” who by “persistent energy and foresight became established among the successful business men of the city while he was yet a comparatively young man.” In many respects, he followed in his father’s footsteps. Tom was the older son of Daniel Kenney who, with a man na

On October 4, 1869, Jacksonville was agog! Charles Sherwood Stratton, the most famous superstar of his time, would be appearing at Horne’s Hall that night along with his troup of entertainers. You might be more familiar with Stratton’s stage name—General Tom Thumb. And you would know Horne’s Hall under its official designation—the U.S. Hotel, the wooden predecessor to the 1880 brick structure we know today. Standing 2’ 11” tall when fully grown, Stratton had been discovere

Jacksonville, Oregon’s Judge Frank TouVelle House, located at 455 North Oregon Street, is considered one of the best examples of Craftsman style homes in the Rogue Valley. TouVelle came to the Valley in 1903 as part of the “Orchard Boom.” He built this house in 1916 as a wedding present for his wife Elizabeth and based it on her designs. After Elizabeth’s death in 1931, TouVelle turned it into a home for needy boys, giving them housing, schooling, and guidance. Today it serve

Frank TouVelle, who built Jacksonville, Oregon’s “Orchard Boom” Craftsman house at 455 N. Oregon Street, was elected Jackson County Judge from 1913 through 1916. During his tenure, he successfully campaigned for improvement of County roads. Later, as State Highway Commissioner, he was directly responsible for the construction of Highway 99 that followed the earlier routes of Indian trail, Toll Road, and Pacific Highway over the Siskiyous.

When Judge Frank TouVelle had his Jacksonville Craftsman-style home at 455 North Oregon Street built in 1916, he incorporated a portion of an existing 1866 house into the new structure. The earlier 1 ½ story Victorian Gothic cottage had been home to William Hoffman, one of Jacksonville’s early pioneers. In 1855 Hoffman was elected County Auditor under the Territorial government. When Oregon gained statehood in 1859, Hoffman became the first elected Clerk of Jackson County; an

For half dozen years in the 1850s, the core of the house at 410 North 5th Street in Jacksonville was home to pioneer civil engineer, Sewell Truax. Raised and educated in Vermont, Truax caught “Oregon fever” while on a surveying trip after encountering emigrants at Council Bluffs. A day later he joined them, arriving in Jackson County in August 1853. For 7 years he was U.S. Deputy Surveyor in Southern Oregon. When the Civil War broke out, he entered the U.S. volunteer cavalry

The Victorian Gothic house at 120 North 5th Street in Jacksonville was built around 1885 by Irish immigrant, William M. Turner. Turner had engaged in mining and clerking in California, been appointed Assistant Federal Assessor for Northern California by President Lincoln, and served a year as Assistant Clerk of the Oregon Legislature before arriving in Jacksonville in 1866. For a number of years he was the Jacksonville telegraph operator, and at various times was also an insu

The U.S. Hotel, located at the northeast corner of California and 3rd streets in Jacksonville, stands on the site of hotel buildings dating back to 1852. The 1880 U.S. Hotel building looks much as it did when local brick mason George Holt constructed it in the late 1870s for his wife, hotel proprietress Madame Jeanne de Roboam Laugier Guilfoyle Holt. De Roboam, who had established the Franco-American Hotel as a famous regional hostelry, longed for a grand brick hotel. It was

The vacant lot at 640 South 3rd Street in Jacksonville was for many years the site of the Christian Ulrich House. The house was probably constructed around 1876 following Ulrich’s marriage to Alice Gilson. The builder may well have been Ulrich himself. Born in Iowa in 1853, Ulrich had come west with his parents in the 1860s. By age 19 he had become a carpenter’s apprentice and from the late 1880s until sometime after 1907 he owned and operated a planning mill and sash and doo

The southeast corner of Oregon and California streets has been the site of a hotel almost since Jacksonville was founded. As early as November 1852, Jesse Robinson claimed “squatters rights” to an existing 2-story wood frame structure. The “Robinson House” became a “private boarding house patronized by the elite.” Austin Badger and Nelson Smith purchased the building in late 1855, renamed it the Union Hotel, and enlarged it. When Badger and Nelson couldn’t pay their debts, th

As you climb the stairs from Highway 238 to the Lower Britt Gardens in Jacksonville, have you ever wondered about the stone walls and cavern you see on your left? That was the cellar and barrel cave of Veit Schutz Hall, the largest brewery in Jacksonville. Constructed in 1856, it also featured a bar and an elaborate dance hall. A prominent local attorney wrote the following lines in 1874: “Oh! Dear Walter, I like to recall The pleasure we had at Veit Schutz hall The fun that

Today is not only History Trivia Tuesday, it’s Election Day! Historic Jacksonville, Inc. is taking the opportunity to remind everyone of how voting has been a hard earned right, one not to be ignored and one to be exercised with thoughtfulness. In 1789, the U.S. Constitution gave property-owning or tax-paying white males the right to vote—only 6% of the population. It was another 67 years (1856) before most states adopted universal white male suffrage. In 1870 the 15th Am

Jacksonville’s Warren Lodge No. 10 of the Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, founded in 1855, was the first Masonic order south of Salem to construct a meeting hall. The original 1858 lodge building stood on the block now occupied by new City Hall (the historic County Courthouse), and for a number of years leased space to Jackson County for offices and courtroom before selling them the building. The current Masonic temple at the corner of California and Oregon streets was constr