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Medford
in 1924 MEDFORD
"The Pear City" Medford,
known as the "biggest little city" in Oregon, has a population of
7,500. It is located near the center of the Rogue River Valley on the
main line of the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Pacific Highway.
Medford is "Gateway to Crater Lake" and is located on the Medford-Crater Lake Highway, which splendid state highway is eighty-two miles in length and is traveled each year by thousands of tourists to that scenic gem of all national parks. As a trading and financial center Medford is the most important in Southern Oregon. During the past ten years Medford has had an average annual rainfall of 16.44 inches. The elevation is 1368 feet. Bear Creek, which is a tributary to Rogue River, flows through Medford. Few, if any, cities the size of Medford have a greater length of paved streets, there being a total of twenty-three miles here. The city has more than twenty-nine miles of sanitary and storm sewers, twenty-eight miles of cast-iron mains, thirty miles of cement sidewalks, and a twenty-three-mile gravity water system, costing $275,000. The water is brought from a natural reservoir in the Cascade Mountains, and the source is sufficient for many times the present population. The city is supplied with gas and electric light and power. Medford is headquarters for the Crater Lake National Forest Service, the Crater Lake National Park Service, and the offices of the county pathologist and county agent are located here. The key station of the United States Weather Bureau for Southern Oregon is located in Medford. The sum of $110,000 was expended in 1916 for the erection of a three-story modern federal building. Medford has a paid fire department, equipped with several auto fire trucks. There is a music conservatory, business college and Catholic school, eleven churches, twenty lodges, a College Women's Club, University Club, and an active women's civic improvement club; there are five large public school buildings. The junior, as well as the senior high school, has special courses of study, including domestic science, art, manual training, agriculture, etc. Medford has a public market, and for the past [twelve] years this has proven to be very popular and is working to the advantage of both country producers and city consumers. Medford is the chief outfitting point in the county for Crater lake, stages making regular trips during the season. A number of large fruit packing plants are located in Medford. These plants are supplemented by storage warehouses, one of the precooling warehouses having a capacity of 100 cars. No Cyclones.Medford Mail Tribune,April 1, 1924, page 1B Last revised June 6, 2009 |
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