Preservation
Rehabilitation 1
Rehabilitation 2
Restoration
Reconstruction
Illustrating Four Treatments in Oregon National Park Service National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, with link to ParkNet.
<<Fitting Your Work to Time & Place
Jacksonville National Historic District
The is an image of the 4th of July parade in Jacksonville, 1884, taken by famed photographer, Peter Britt.  Photo: ©Southern Oregon Historical Society.  All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Working on the Past in Local Historic Districts
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Then & Now.
The rapid growth and decline of Jacksonville combined
to preserve the late 19th century buildings, village scale,
and spatial relationships virtually unchanged into the 1960s. Today it is a National Historic Landmark District.
This is an image of downtown Jacksonville in the 20th century on a quiet morning with no cars. Photo: Courtesy, Town & Country Properties.

 

This is an image of California Street, Jacksonville, in the 1930s. Handwriting on the photo notes that the corner drug store was built in 1854. Photo: Courtesy, George Kramer.
This is an image of downtown Jacksonville in the 1960s. Photo: Courtesy, George Kramer.

This is an image of a residence in Jacksonville in 2001. Photo: Courtesy, Oregon State Historic Preservation Office.

 

Community History

Early Jacksonville’s rapid development… Early in 1852, seven years prior to statehood, gold was discovered in the hills near present day Jacksonville in southwestern Oregon. Miners flocked to the Rogue Valley to seek their fortune. Within months, thousands were scouring the hills hoping to stake a claim. A thriving mining camp emerged along the gold-lined creek beds and, before long, the bustling camp was transformed into the town named "Jacksonville.” Makeshift shops, supply stores, a bank and other businesses suddenly began to appear on the scene. By January of 1853, when it became the county seat of the newly created Jackson County, Jacksonville had a population of 900. In the same year, a disastrous fire consumed most of the wood-framed commercial core, but because the town was at the height of its prosperity, it was re-built immediately, this time largely in brick.

and rapid decline… Ironically, the late 1870s largely exhausted the ore deposits, and when the main north-south railroad line bypassed the community in 1884, Jacksonville went into decline. To counter the image of impending economic doom, a few wealthy merchants built grand mansions and the new Jackson County Courthouse was completed in 1884. By the 1890's agriculture had replaced mining as the main industry in the Valley. A privately owned railroad spur ran to Jacksonville until 1927, when the County seat was moved to Medford. The rapid growth and decline of Jacksonville combined to preserve the late 19th century buildings, village scale, and spatial relationships virtually unchanged into the 1960s.

More recently… In 1962, a proposal to route the new Highway 238 through the town of Jacksonville galvanized its residents into action. The opponents of the highway project were successful in averting that disaster, but also realized that their efforts would need to continue in order to preserve the remarkable collection of properties in its setting of wooded hills. In 1967 the core of the town was designated a National Historic Landmark, and in 1977, a larger formal boundary—that included the supporting residential neighborhoods—was adopted by the National Landmark Advisory Board.

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