History Right Here - Horse Powers - Jacksonville, OR
N 42° 18.910 W 122° 58.085
10T E 502630 N 4684770
This historical marker resides at the NE corner of N Oregon St and West C St in Jacksonville, OR.
Waymark Code: WMGT8Z
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 04/07/2013
Views: 7
Visitors to the historic community of Jacksonville might come across this placard placed by the Southern Oregon Historical Society and part of a series of historical markers placed all around town. This placard reads:
History Right Here - Horse Powers
Both horses and horsepower figure prominently in this site's past. In the 1860s, William J. Plymale (1837-1904) opened a livery stable at Oregon and "D" streets. He sold feed and kept horses and buggies on hand.
Steam Driven Horsepower
Change came to Jackson County when the first steam powered locomotive arrived in 1884. Aside from the eventual end of the horse and buggy era, a major economic and political shift occurred.
Jacksonville, bypassed by the rail line, lost its status as the region's business hub. In an attempt to boost Jacksonville's economy a five mile railway was built in 1891 connecting it with the main line in Medford. The operations of this line -- the Rogue River Valley Railway -- were based on this site.
End of an Era
In 1916 the Jacksonville rail line was added to the Medford trolley went bankrupt. In the 1920s most of the line's tracks and buildings were dismantled. The depot, now the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, is the one remaining building.
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I located another website (WhatWasThere.com) that says this about the railroad:
In 1884, the Oregon and California Railroad completed its rail line south from Portland to the Oregon-California border. For the Rogue River valley portion, they selected a route along the valley floor, thus situating Jacksonville about ten miles from the nearest railroad station. Some prominent residents of the community, hoping to keep Jacksonville economically stable, formed a company to construct a railway to Medford, the new town created by the O & C railroad. The right-of-way ran west along C Street to a point on the west side of Oregon Street, where the Rogue River Valley Railroad Station was built in 1891. The local railroad line to Medford constructed and operated by Honeyman, DeHart and Company of Portland failed to secure Jacksonville's future, however: the grade of the rail bed was too steep for the small engines used to permit either fast service or the the transport of heavy loads. Central Point, Medford, and Ashland all lay along the main line from Portland to Sacramento; all prospered at Jacksonville's expense. In addition, because the Oregon and California Railroad owned every other building in Medford, it had an incentive to encourage settlement and industry there. The Jacksonville-Medford line was abandoned in 1925. The railroad station has been turned around since that time, but it still stands on the original site. It is now owned by the Jacksonville Museum.
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There is a nice remnant of the old railroad that once existed along West C St where the rails poke through the asphalt in the street (picture included). There are other remnants of rails poking through the street in front of the former depot station as well.
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