County Past
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Josephine County, Oregon

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
63historic places
—earliest paper
1856formed
88,090pop. 2020
17cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 63 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1972; 1 is also National Historic Landmark. Most listings are in or near Grants Pass, Cave Junction, Wolf Creek.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for Oregon is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Josephine titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

32 of 63 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

63 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Ahlf, John and Susanna, HouseGrants PassBuilding1983
Allen Gulch MillCave JunctionSite2001
Allen Gulch TownsiteCave JunctionSite2001
Calhoun, George, HouseGrants PassBuilding1981
Cameron MineCave JunctionSite2001
Cedar Guard Station No. 1019Cave JunctionBuilding1986
Clark-McConnell HouseGrants PassBuilding1998
Clark-Norton HouseGrants PassBuilding1986
Clemens, Michael, HouseGrants PassBuilding1982
Cornell, Albert B. and Mary, HouseGrants PassBuilding2002
Croxton, Thomas, HouseGrants PassBuilding1979
Deep Gravel MineCave JunctionSite2001
Dimmick-Judson HouseGrants PassBuilding1998
Esterly Pit No. 2-Llano De Oro MineCave JunctionSite2001
Fetzner, Joseph, HouseGrants PassBuilding1990
Flanagan, Dr. William H., HouseGrants PassSite1983
Fry Gulch MineCave JunctionSite2001
Golden Historic DistrictWolf CreekDistrict2002
Grant Pass City Hall and Fire StationGrants PassBuilding1984
Grants Pass G Street Historic DistrictGrants PassDistrict1993
Grants Pass Supervisor's WarehouseGrants PassBuilding1991
Grave Creek BridgeSunny ValleyStructure1979
Grey, Zane, CabinGaliceSite2016
High Gravel MineCave JunctionSite2001
Hotel Josephine AnnexGrants PassBuilding1997
Hugo Community Baptist ChurchGrants PassBuilding1990
Kienlen-Harbeck BuildingGrants PassBuilding1982
Lippincott, William J. and Sarah Wagner, HouseWilliamsBuilding2015
Logan CutCave JunctionStructure2001
Logan Drain DitchesCave JunctionStructure2001
Logan Wash DitchCave JunctionStructure2001
Lundburg, George H., HouseGrants PassBuilding1987
McLean, Robert and Lucy, HouseGrants PassBuilding1984
Middle DitchCave JunctionStructure2001
Nauke, William and Nannie, HouseKerbyBuilding1999
Newell, Edwin, HouseGrants PassBuilding1979
Newman United Methodist ChurchGrants PassBuilding1977
Old Placer MineCave JunctionSite2001
Oregon Caves Chateau NHLOregon Caves National MonumentBuilding1987
Oregon Caves Historic DistrictCave JunctionDistrict1992
Oregon Caves Historic District (Boundary Increase)Cave JunctionDistrict2012
Osgood DitchCave JunctionStructure2001
Plataurica MineCave JunctionSite2001
Rand Ranger StationMerlinBuilding1999
Redwoods HotelGrants PassBuilding1979
Reed-Cobb-Bowser House and BarnMerlinBuilding2017
Riverside ParkGrants PassDistrict2020
Rogue TheatreGrants PassBuilding2005
Schmidt, Claus and Hannchen, HouseGrants PassBuilding2004
Siskiyou Smokejumper BaseCave JunctionDistrict2006
Siskiyou Smokejumper Base (Boundary Increase)Cave JunctionDistrict2014
Smith, Herbert and Katherine, HouseGrants PassBuilding1983
Speed's Place on the RogueGaliceBuilding1991
St. Patrick's Roman Catholic CemeteryCave JunctionSite2001
Store Gulch Guard Station No. 1020Cave JunctionBuilding1986
Upper DitchCave JunctionStructure2001
Voorhies, Amos E., HouseGrants PassBuilding1990
Waldo CemeteryCave JunctionSite2001
Waldo Chinese CemeteryCave JunctionSite2001
Waldo MineCave JunctionSite2001
Whisky Creek CabinWolf CreekBuilding1975
Wimer DitchCave JunctionStructure2001
Wolf Creek TavernWolf CreekBuilding1972

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Josephine was formed in 1856 (1856-01-22) from Curry, Jackson.

JOSEPHINE created by Oregon Territory from CURRY and JACKSON.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Josephine County population from 1860 to 2020 (Census historical series).

88k45k1,2041860188019201940196020002020
1860188019001920194019501960198020002020
1,6232,4857,5177,65516,30126,54229,91758,85575,72688,090

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

National Park Service sites nearby

NPS

Park units within about 40 km of the county centroid (from NPS Public POIs; no API key).

SiteTypeDist.
Oregon Caves National Monument and PreservePark unit33.5 km

Source: NPS National Datasets / Public POIs. The NPS Developer API requires a free key and was not used.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

17 cemeteries and 6 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 17 of 17 listed
NameLatLon
Deer Creek Cemetery42.264-123.5695
Ferrydale Cemetery42.46233-123.48172
Gotcher Cemetery42.24456-123.27643
Granite Hill Cemetery42.44567-123.36505
Hartley Cemetery42.21064-123.28967
Hawthorne Memorial Gardens Cemetery42.44428-123.36227
Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery42.45777-123.31544
Laurel Cemetery42.17144-123.63405
Lower Wolf Creek Cemetery42.65798-123.44365
Placer Cemetery42.63595-123.31505
Pleasant Valley Cemetery42.5415-123.38449
Selma Cemetery42.28316-123.61644
Sloan Cemetery42.41747-123.46157
Sparlin Cemetery42.24456-123.27282
Tokay Heights Cemetery42.43622-123.29421
Wilderville Cemetery42.379-123.46227
Wolf Creek Cemetery42.69832-123.3985
Historical populated places — 6 of 6
NameLatLon
Allentown42.04428-123.62618
Althouse42.12623-123.57757
Brown City42.01373-123.62757
Browntown42.0529-123.26394
Greenback42.65262-123.31201
Williamsburg42.24429-123.25505

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Josephine County, Oregon

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.