Jacksonville

History

Jacksonville was founded following discovery of gold deposits in 1851–1852. The first hanging in Southern Oregon took place in Jacksonville in the spring of 1852. With the creation of Jackson County, it became the county seat, a role which was transferred to nearby Medford in 1927. Jacksonville was home to the first Chinatown in Oregon, founded by immigrants from San Francisco. Physical evidence of this chapter of history was uncovered early in March 2004 when road work uncovered artifacts dating to the 1850s and 1860s. Construction was halted while archeologists performed four days of rescue excavations. Their findings included broken Chinese bowls and tea cups, handmade bottles, and fragments of opium paraphernalia and Chinese coins. As the gold deposits were worked out in the 1860s and the railway bypassed Jacksonville in 1884, the city's economy slowed. This had the unintended benefit of preserving a number of structures, which led to Jacksonville's being designated a National Historic District in 1966, covering over 100 buildings. It was cited as a "mid-19th century inland commercial city significant for its magnificent group of surviving unaltered commercial and residential buildings. The city was the principal financial center of southern Oregon until it was bypassed by the Oregon and California Railroad."

Geography

Jacksonville is in west-central Jackson County, west of Medford in the valley of Jackson Creek at the base of Miller Mountain. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Acorn Woodpecker

  Melanerpes formicivorus (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  11,713
• California/Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

  Aphelocoma californica (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  11,439
• Spotted Towhee

  Pipilo maculatus Swainson, 1827 · Aves
  10,213
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  9,785
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  9,516
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  9,009
• Lesser Goldfinch

  Spinus psaltria (Say, 1822) · Aves
  9,004
• Golden-crowned Sparrow

  Zonotrichia atricapilla (J.F.Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  8,736

Largest nearby schools

• South Medford High School
  High · Medford · 1,870 students · 24.6:1 ratio
• North Medford High School
  High · Medford · 1,701 students · 22.7:1 ratio
• Logos Charter School
  Other · Medford · 1,146 students · 20.1:1 ratio
• Hedrick Middle School
  Middle · Medford · 996 students · 21.7:1 ratio
• McLoughlin Middle School
  Middle · Medford · 915 students · 19.9:1 ratio
• Scenic Middle School
  Middle · Central Point · 844 students · 30.1:1 ratio
• Phoenix High School
  High · Phoenix · 700 students · 20.6:1 ratio
• Hoover Elementary School
  Elementary · Medford · 647 students · 20.2:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.63 — 2025-09-06
  23 km WSW of Mount Hebron, CA
• M 2.95 — 2023-08-08
  28 km ENE of Pistol River, Oregon
• M 2.52 — 2023-01-05
  25 km WNW of Klamath Falls, Oregon
• M 3.22 — 2022-06-20
  11 km WNW of O'Brien, Oregon
• M 2.5 — 2021-11-07
  6km SW of Dorris, CA
• M 2.62 — 2021-02-08
  23km SW of Mount Hebron, CA