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Did you know that Jacksonville’s northeast corner of California and 4th streets housed businesses serving local transportation needs for over 110 years? Most residents associate the location with Rasmussen’s Super Serve. Established by Ernest Rasmussen in 1950 as a combination gas station and car repair shop, the gas station portion closed long ago, but Ernest’s grandson Steve still operated the popular local repair service until 2022. However, that corner has an even older h

Did you know that the “Reader’s Digest” magazine was inspired by a Jacksonville event? DeWitt Wallace, the founder of the Reader’s Digest, conceived a revolutionary method for condensing magazine articles while witnessing a 1911 trial in the Jackson County courtroom—the 2nd floor of what is now Jacksonville’s New City Hall when the building was still the county courthouse. The year was 1911. DeWitt was 22 and working on completing his education at Berkeley. He was spending s

Jacksonville’s Redmen’s Hall, the U.S. Hotel, the Masonic Hall, the Odd Fellows building, and Veit Schutz Hall all had ballrooms or dance floors, and weekly dances were a popular form of local entertainment. Masquerades, or fancy-dress balls, were particularly popular over the holidays. At masquerades, prizes were typically awarded for best costume. And it was also common for spectators to pay to watch the costumed partygoers entering the ball—like fans today paying to watch

Employees of I.B.M. used to joke that the initials stood for “I’ve Been Moved” since they were relocated so frequently. Well, in early Jacksonville, it was buildings that were frequently relocated. Here are three with that distinction. When St. Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church was built in 1854, the church faced 4th Street. Three years after the new Jackson County Courthouse was completed in 1884 and 5th Street became the main route to Medford, the building was rotated an

The southern portion of the house at 560 North Oregon Street is believed to have been Jacksonville’s first schoolhouse, but this was not its original site. Constructed in 1856, records show it was located on the opposite side of North Oregon and about ¼ mile farther north. The house was deeded to Robert Dunlap in payment of $137 he was owed “for improvements – digging well, making fences, walks, etc. – about the new school house” that had been constructed on Bigham Knoll in

Have you ever wondered why state Highway 238 zigs and zags its way around and through Jacksonville? In the mid-1960s a more direct route had been planned—a route that would also raze 11 of the town’s historic buildings. Led by Robertson “Robbie” Collins, Jacksonville residents rose up in protest—and in some cases lay down in protest, quite literally lying in the streets along the proposed route. Collins persuaded Glen Jackson, then head of the Oregon Department of Transport

It took a gold rush to bring electricity to the Rogue River Valley, but in this case, it was the Alaska Gold Rush. When prospective Yukon gold mines did not pan out for Dr. Charles Ray and his brother Col. Frank Ray in 1900, they checked out Southern Oregon and purchased the Braden mine near Gold Hill. But to make it productive, it needed electricity. They began construction of the Gold Ray log “crib” dam in 1902, discovering in the process that electricity was more valuable

The Rogue River Valley Railway, which operated from 1891 until 1925, was Jacksonville’s attempt to maintain regional economic supremacy after the main Oregon & California/Southern Pacific railroad line by-passed the town in favor of the flat valley floor. The RRVR hauled gravel, bricks, timber, crops, livestock, mail and passengers over a 5-mile, single track spur line that connected Jacksonville with Medford. The Jacksonville Visitor’s Center at the corner of Oregon and C st

Bob May was not feeling much comfort or joy as the 1938 holiday season approached. A 34-year-old ad writer for Montgomery Ward in Chicago, May was exhausted and nearly broke. His wife, Evelyn, was bedridden, on the losing end of a two-year battle with cancer. This left Bob to look after their four-year old-daughter, Barbara. One night, Barbara asked her father, “Why isn’t my mommy like everybody else’s mommy?” As he struggled to answer his daughter’s question, Bob remembered

The brick building now housing Jacksonville’s Pot Rack at 140 West California Street is historically known as Sachs Brothers Dry Goods. However, the site first housed Mathew Kennedy’s tin shop and then Dr. Louis Ganung’s office and residence. The current brick structure was commissioned in 1861 by Lippman and Solomon Sachs for their Temple of Fashion, featuring ladies’ wear and dry goods. It was one of the town’s most successful early businesses, and Sachs brothers ran it for