In 1967, Interstate 5 was completed immediately adjacent to downtown Medford to replace the Oregon Pacific Highway. ![]() Ä«etween World War II and the 1960s, Medford had a reputation as a sundown town where African Americans and other nonwhites were not allowed to live or stay at night. In 1927, Medford took the title of county seat of Jackson County away from nearby Jacksonville. Construction on the Medford Carnegie Library was completed in 1912. Five years later the library moved to Medford's new city hall, in another four years, Andrew Carnegie's donation allowed a dedicated library to be built. Haskins had opened a drugstore just after the town was platted, and in 1903 he allowed the Medford Library Association to open a small library in that store. Without a bridge, those wanting to cross had to ford the stream, typically using a horse-drawn wagon the first automobile did not arrive in Medford until 1903. Medford built a new steel bridge over Bear Creek to replace an earlier one which washed away three years before. The beginning of the 20th century was a transitional period for the area. Howard held the position of postmaster for Medford's first ten years, and again held the post upon his death on November 13, 1919. The establishment of the post office led to the incorporation of Medford as a town by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on February 24, 1885, and again as a city in 1905. Howard's store became Medford's first post office, with Howard serving as postmaster. ![]() Regardless, on Febru(less than a month after it was built), J. Others point out the farms of town founders Iradell Judson Phipps and Charles Wesley Broback, which were present before the town was platted. James Sullivan Howard, a merchant and surveyor, claimed to have built the town's first building in January 1884, though blacksmith Emil Piel was advertising for business at the "central depot" in the middle of December 1883. ![]() They completed their work in early December 1883, laying out 82 blocks for development. Howard was hard at work platting the new town. By November 1883, a depot site had been chosen and a surveying team led by Charles J. The response from Jacksonville was mixed, but the decision was final. Such a move would have all but guaranteed prosperous growth for Jacksonville, but Dolson decided instead to stake the railroad closer to Bear Creek. Citizens of neighboring Jacksonville hoped that it would pass between their town and Hanley Butte, near the present day Claire Hanley Arboretum. They were charged with finding the best route through the Rogue Valley for the Oregon and California Railroad. Dolson and David Loring arrived in Rock Point, near present-day Gold Hill. ![]() In 1883, a group of railroad surveyors headed by S. Medford is near the middle ford of Bear Creek. The city was named in 1883 by David Loring, civil engineer and right-of-way agent for the Oregon and California Railroad, after Medford, Massachusetts, which was near Loring's hometown of Concord, Massachusetts. As of the 2020 United States Census on April 1, 2020, the city had a total population of 85,824 and a metropolitan area population of 223,259, making the Medford MSA the fourth largest metro area in Oregon. Medford is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Oregon, in the United States.
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