A week with a writing time shortage pushed me toward internet research. This time it paid off, a treasure trove of history. The story of the growth of a city as the Southern Pacific plotted the best route for the tracks through southern Oregon.
Where there was no settlement, not even a house, Medford was formed and grew as an upstart business entity; a place for farmers to ship out products and very rapidly, to buy what they needed. One of the few train stations where there hadn’t even been a stage stop or tavern. With business as it’s base, the city grew differently than other southern Oregon towns, bringing in a core of twenty-five businesses within just a few months. The town was founded in 1883 and called itself a metropolis by 1926. It still draws business from most of the Rogue River Valley.
A DIFFERENT APPROACH
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