| Ashland, Oregon | |
|---|---|
| — City — | |
| The Plaza | |
| Coordinates: | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Oregon |
| County | Jackson |
| Settled | 1852 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | John Stromberg |
| Area | |
| • Total | 6.50 sq mi (16.83 km2) |
| • Land | 6.50 sq mi (16.83 km2) |
| • Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.00 km2) |
| Elevation | 1,895 ft (577.6 m) |
| Population (2011) | |
| • Total | 20,255 |
| • Density | 3,003.1/sq mi (1,160/km2) |
| Time zone | Pacific (UTC-8) |
| • Summer (DST) | Pacific (UTC-7) |
| ZIP code | 97520 |
| Area code(s) | 541 |
| FIPS code | 41-03050[1] |
| GNIS feature ID | 1137318[2] |
| Website | www.ashland.or.us |
Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, near Interstate 5 and the California border, and located in the south end of the Rogue Valley. It was named after Ashland County, Ohio, point of origin of Abel Helman and other founders, and secondarily for Ashland, Kentucky, where other founders had family connections. It officially became a town with the name Ashland Mills in 1855. As of July 1, 2011, the city had a total population of 20,255[3]. It is the home of Southern Oregon University and the internationally renowned Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
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Prior to the arrival of settlers in mid-19th century, Shasta Indians lived in the valley along the creek approximately where Ashland is located. Early Hudson's Bay Company hunters and trappers, following the Siskiyou Trail, passed through the site in the 1820s. In the late 1840s, settlers (mostly American) following the Applegate Trail began passing through the area. By the early 1850s, the Donation Land Act brought many white settlers into the Rogue Valley and in conflict with its native people. These often violent clashes continued until 1856.
In 1851, gold was discovered at Rich Gulch, a tributary of Jackson Creek, and a tent city developed on its banks, the area now known as Jacksonville. Settlers soon arrived to the Ashland area in January 1852, including Abel Helman, Eber Emery and his brother James Emery, Robert Hargadine and others. In order to capitalize on mining in nearby Jacksonville, Helman and the Emerys established a lumber mill on Ashland Creek.[4]
During the 1860s and 1870s the community grew, establishing a school, churches and other businesses. In 1871, the Post Office dropped "Mills" from Ashland's name. On November 4, 1872 Reverend J. H. Skidmore founded the Ashland Academy—it eventually became Southern Oregon University.
In December 1887, Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco, California, were joined by rail at Ashland. Until 1926, when most rail service began taking a different route (east through Klamath Falls to avoid the steep grade through the Siskiyou Mountains) Ashland thrived on rail trade. This was especially the case with orchard products, such as the famous Ashland peach, which won top honors at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago.
In 1908, the Women's Civic Improvement Club petitioned for the creation of a park—Ashland Canyon Park—along Ashland Creek. The discovery of Lithia water around the same time led to a plan to establish a mineral spa at the park. Using the resulting funding, the town engaged John McLaren, landscape architect of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, to design the park. This also resulted in a name change, first to Lithia Springs Park and then to Lithia Park.
The oldest working telephone booth in Oregon, made of wood with a tin ceiling, is located in downtown Ashland in the Columbia Hotel. The Columbia Hotel, built in 1910 as part of the Enders Building, is the oldest hotel in Ashland and continues to flourish today. The building was originally home of the largest mercantile establishment between Sacramento and Portland in the period 1910 to 1928.[5]
During the Fourth of July celebration in 1935, Angus L. Bowmer arranged the first performances of what would become the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The festival grew during the 20th century, and has become an award-winning and internationally-known regional theater company.
Ashland is located in the foothills of the Siskiyou and Cascade ranges, about 15 miles (24 km) north of the California border on Interstate 5.
The city is 350 miles (560 km) north of San Francisco and 285 miles (459 km) south of Portland in an area once proposed to become the State of Jefferson. It is 90 miles (145 km) from Crater Lake National Park and Oregon Caves National Monument.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.5 square miles (17 km2), none of which is water.[6]
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1900 | 2,634 |
|
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| 1910 | 5,020 | 90.6% | |
| 1920 | 4,283 | −14.7% | |
| 1930 | 4,544 | 6.1% | |
| 1940 | 4,744 | 4.4% | |
| 1950 | 7,739 | 63.1% | |
| 1960 | 9,119 | 17.8% | |
| 1970 | 12,342 | 35.3% | |
| 1980 | 14,943 | 21.1% | |
| 1990 | 16,234 | 8.6% | |
| 2000 | 19,522 | 20.3% | |
| 2010 | 20,078 | 2.8% | |
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As of the census of 2000, there are 19,522 people in the city organized into 8,537 households, and 4,481 families. The population density is 3,003.1 people per square mile (1,159.6/km²). There are 9,050 housing units at an average density of 1,392.2 per square mile (537.6/km²). The racial makeup of the city is 91.55% White, 1.87% Asian, 1.02% Native American, 0.60% Black or African American, 0.13% Pacific Islander, 1.71% from other races, and 3.11% from two or more races. 3.56% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.[1]
Of the 8,537 households 25.3% have children under the age of 18, 37.4% have married couples living together, 11.7% have a female householder with no husband present, and 47.5% are non-families. Thirty-three percent of all households are made up of individuals and 10.9% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.14 and the average family size is 2.72.[1]
The age distribution of residents is 18.8% under the age of 18, 17.5% from 18 to 24, 23.3% from 25 to 44, 25.5% from 45 to 64, and 14.8% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 38 years. For every 100 females there are 85.6 males; for every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 82.7 males.[1]
The median income for a household in the city is $32,670, and the median income for a family is $49,647. Males have a median income of $36,825 versus $30,632 for females. The per capita income for the city is $21,292. 19.6% of the population and 12.5% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 22.0% of those under the age of 18 and 8.5% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.[1]
Income from tourism composes a significant portion of Ashland's economy. A large number of hotels, bed and breakfasts and restaurants thrive on revenue generated from visitors who see plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
The town's five largest employers are (in order) Southern Oregon University, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland Public Schools, Ashland Community Hospital and the City of Ashland.
The Bathroom Readers' Institute and Bathroom Readers' Press, which release the popular Uncle John's Bathroom Reader books, are based in Ashland.[7]
Ashland is also home to Brammo, Inc., maker of the Enertia and Empulse electric motorcycles, and a former North American manufacturer of the British Ariel Atom supercar.[8][9]
Ashland is well-known for its annual Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), which brings thousands of visitors to the city every year. The festival has grown from a summer outdoor festival in the 1930s to a season which stretches from February to October, incorporating Shakespeare and non-Shakespearean plays in repertory at three theaters. OSF sells more tickets to more performances of more plays than any other theater in the country. In a typical year, OSF sells more than 350,000 tickets and attracts about 100,000 tourists.
There is also Oregon Cabaret Theatre which features musicals throughout the year in a converted church.[10]
The Ashland Independent Film Festival which shows international and domestic films of almost every genre since 2001 takes place in April of each year. Previous guests and directors have included actress Helen Hunt, Indie director Henry Jaglom and others.
The annual Ashland New Plays Festival is a week-long event that focuses attention on playwrights and the development of new work for the American stage.
The National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory, located in Ashland, is the world's only crime lab dedicated to wildlife, and serves law enforcement both within and outside the United States.
The Ashland City Band (ACB) was organized in 1876 as the Ashland Brass Band. John McLaren, designer of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, designed Lithia Park and included an octagonal gazebo-style bandstand which was used by the ACB until a bandshell was built in 1949.[11]
Ashland is also the setting for the movie version of Neil Gaiman's Coraline.[12]
Lithia Park is a 93-acre (38 ha) park, including 42 acres (17 ha) on the National Register of Historic Places, that extends upstream along Ashland Creek near the center of the city.[13] It includes two ponds, a Japanese garden, tennis courts, two public greens, a bandshell (outdoor stage) and miles of hiking trails. The name Lithia comes from the natural mineral water in Ashland, Lithia water.[14] It has a strong mineral taste and slight effervescence, and the Lithia water fountains found on the town plaza are frequently tasted by unsuspecting tourists (often at the behest of residents or frequent visitors who use the fountains as a cheap, humorous Ashland initiation rite).[15] Lithia water can be sampled from a fountain near the bandshell in Lithia Park as well.
The Ashland School District oversees three elementary schools, one middle school, one high school, one magnet school and a community learning center.[16] Ashland High School was named in U.S. News & World Report's top 3% of national public high schools in 2007 and 2009.
Southern Oregon University, a public four-year university, offers programs in science and liberal arts. With an enrollment of over 6000 students, Southern offers undergraduate- and graduate-level programs in business, education, and the arts and sciences.
The Ashland Daily Tidings publishes on weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings. The Mail Tribune, a regional morning daily newspaper from Medford, also serves Ashland.
The Ashland Community Hospital is a general medical and surgical hospital operated by the city. As of 2010, it has 36 inpatient beds.[17]
The Ashland Public Library building was expanded from the city's original Carnegie library.[18] In 2003, the historic Carnegie portion of the library was restored.[19] In 2006, Jackson County budget problems led to the closing, in April 2007, of the Ashland Library and 14 others in Jackson County. The event, which lasted until October 2007, was the largest library closure in U.S. history.[20]
Rogue Valley Transportation District (RVTD) Route 10 and Route 15 provides bus service to much of the city, both routes running every thirty minutes providing a combined service frequency of 15 minutes.[21] Route 10 also provides service to Medford, where passengers can connect to any of the other six RVTD routes as well as to Southwest P.O.I.N.T., a daily shuttle operated by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) carrying passengers between Brookings and the Amtrak station in Klamath Falls.[22] The Klamath Falls Amtrak Station serves the Coast Starlight long-haul passenger train.[23]
A hiking and biking path, the Bear Creek Greenway, begins in Ashland near the intersection of West Nevada Street with Helman Street,[24] close to the confluence of Ashland Creek (which flows through Lithia Park)[25] with Bear Creek.[26] The 25-mile (40 km) path follows Bear Creek between Ashland and Central Point and passes through Talent, Phoenix, and Medford.[27]
Ashland's city-owned electric company moved to improve the city's Broadband Internet access in 1999 by creating the Ashland Fiber Network (AFN), which built a $8.5 million fiber optic ring inside the city boundaries. This supports 3,700 cable modem customers (an estimated three-quarters of the market), and splits the local cable television market with Charter Communications. However, in 2006, the city faced difficulties servicing AFN's debt load, which was approaching $15.5 million. The city hired a new AFN director, Joe Franell,[28] who suggested scrapping cable television service while retaining the more-profitable high-speed Internet access.[29] In October, 2006, the cable television service was transferred to a local company, Ashland Home Net, while the City retained both the infrastructure and the wholesale Internet business.[30] AFN has also added telephone and wireless Internet service to its offerings.[31]
Ashland has one sister city:
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