All About Jacksonville
Jacksonville was originally known as “Table Rock City”. It was the first town in Southern Oregon. Gold was discovered about three blocks from downtown in 1851 and some of the heaviest mining activity in the region was located in the upper portion of Rich Gulch. Another strike at Sterling Creek was found in 1854. The Bureau of Land Management, still to date, maintains the Sterling Mine Ditch Trail for recreational purposes. Mining was done in the area until the 1930’s. As miners swarmed in to the area and businesses popped up, there were three major fires from 1873 and 1884. Since the buildings were wood, and everything burned, the city mandated that all buildings were to be brick .
Jacksonville became the county seat in 1853 and was the largest town in the state by 1859.
In the 1850’s the Chinese flocked to Jacksonville working the mining areas after the mined areas were considered played out. Even though the state Constitution declared that Chinese could not hold any real estate or mining claims, it seems that was not abided by in Jacksonville. A story shows that a Chinaman called Gin Lin conducted hydraulic mining operations and was said to have deposited over a million dollars worth of gold dust in a Jacksonville bank. After resentment flared against him by other miners he left for China in 1894.
The National Forest Service has constructed a trail through the hydraulically mined area naming it Gin Lin Mining Trail. Mining became popular again in the 1930 during the depression. There was not much gold found but enough to pay for groceries. A few more industrious dug tunnels under their property into their neighbor’s property and under the city streets. With the start of World War II the backyard mining stopped, but there have been occasions when the streets have given away from those tunnels.
Jacksonville had a stage line by 1860 and had telegraph connection in 1864. The railroad construction that began in 1870 and reached the Rogue Valley bypassed Jacksonville as it took the straighter route through Medford. It is worth noting that a prominent banker in Jacksonville named Cornelieu Beekman also owned a lot of land in the center of the valley and donated some of this land to the railroad for the station. Jacksonville wanted a railroad so they did finally get a line and called it the Jacksonville Cannonball.
The economy of Jacksonville slowed after being passed by the railroad but because of this the many historic buildings remained intact to this day. In 1927 Jacksonville was widely known as they prosecuted the 4 men who had robbed and killed several men during a train robbery. It was also during this time Jacksonville lost the county seat to Medford. In 1966, much of Jacksonville was declared to be a Historic Landmark and over 100 buildings today are designated as such.
Today this little town is rich in history and home to the Britt festival, Historic Natural Park, Sarah Zigler Interpetive Trail and such events as the Victorian Christmas held downtown every Christmas complete with period dressing and horse drawn sleighs. A Chinese New Year parade is held in February.
A more delightful old fashioned town cannot be found!
