How did we become the Ashland of today?

By Peter Finkle for Ashland.news

Ashland’s 150^th birthday dates from its incorporation as the City of Ashland on Oct. 13, 1874. The Oregon legislature passed a bill that was signed on that day by Governor La Fayette Grover. As a community, we have a lot to celebrate. Have you seen the many accolades and “Best of” awards that Ashland has received just this year, in addition to those of previous years?

How did we become the Ashland of today? Here are some stories and themes from the early years of Ashland that help explain today’s culturally rich community.

Ashland actually began as a small pioneer settlement in January 1852. The first settlers here built a lumber mill in 1852 along Ashland Creek. Two years later, Ashland Flour Mill was erected.

It was also on the creek, at the current entrance to Lithia Park. In 1854, the population of Ashland was only 25 people. By the year 1874 when Ashland incorporated, our population had increased to 300, but it was still a very isolated small town.

As we talk about the founding of Ashland as a town, it is important to remember that the Shasta and Takelma peoples had lived in this area for thousands of years, until in 1856 they were removed by force to reservations in northwest Oregon.

The Ashland Plaza was created in 1855, and has been the center of town ever since. Here is a grainy photo of the Ashland Plaza in the 1870s, before the 1879 fire that burned all the wood buildings you see on the right of the photo (west side of the Plaza). The photo at the top of the page shows the same view after the Plaza buildings on the west side were rebuilt using local brick.

Ashland values: Early Ashlanders, many from the Midwest, brought strong beliefs in the value of education, of mutual support and volunteerism, of culture in the form of music, books, speakers and performances, and of tourism to stimulate the economy. I will briefly elucidate a few ways these values were expressed through the decades.

Education: Let’s begin with education. Only 20 years after the first mill was built in Ashland, local citizens founded the Ashland Academy, a one-year teacher-training college. Today’s Southern Oregon University traces its roots back to that year, 1872. Then, in 1879, local women began the Ashland Library and Reading Room Association, with donations of 200 books.

Mutual support and volunteerism: From early years, Ashland had strong fraternal organizations and women’s groups that helped knit the community together. The I.O.O.F. Lodge (Odd Fellows) formed in 1873, the Masonic Lodge in 1875 and the Elks Lodge in 1910. The Ladies’ Chautauqua Park Club of the mid-1890s was one of the first ways for local women to formally collaborate.

The Ashland Chautauqua, a 10-day summer program of speakers, culture, education and moral teachings, began in 1893 only because of an outpouring of community spirit and support. On June 14, 1893, community leaders from a number of Southern Oregon towns chose Ashland as the site of a regional Chautauqua gathering, with the start date set for July 5, 1893.

The Ashland community rallied to launch the project within the 21-day deadline. First, money was raised. Second, an 8-acre plot of land happened to be available right next to Ashland Plaza – it was purchased. Now it was 10 days until July 5. Third, a large building was needed for the programs. With as many as 40 workers at a time pitching in, a beehive shaped wooden dome 80 feet in diameter and 40 feet high was built. Completed when? Completed on the evening of July 4, just in time for the first Chautauqua assembly to begin on July 5, 1893!

The early years of Oregon Shakespeare Festival also relied on volunteers from Ashland and surrounding towns. Founder Angus Bowmer had the vision, but it took college students and faculty, business people donating money and supplies, and thousands of local women and men giving love and hard work through the years to bring his vision to life.

Culture through music, books, speakers and performances:Have you been to an Ashland City Band concert in Lithia Park? It began as the Ashland Brass Band way back in 1876. The City Band was so important to the citizens that it was written into the city charter in 1938. The band still performs eight or nine Thursday evening concerts each summer, plus a noon concert after the parade as part of Ashland’s historic Fourth of July celebration.

As I researched Ashland history during the past six years, I was surprised to find that Shakespeare plays had been performed in Ashland as long ago as 1887. Shakespeare plays were performed at the three-story Ganiard Opera House between 1903 and 1910 by a New York Shakespeare company that toured the country.

Built by Oscar and Lucinda Ganiard in 1889, the Opera House theater occupied the top two floors, while the Opera House Grocery was initially on the ground floor. Sadly, a fire destroyed the upper two floors containing the theater in 1912. The first floor of the building is still here, at East Main and Pioneer Streets, with the original cut sandstone columns still visible around the corner entry.

Now to the theater you know. In 1931, Angus Bowmer was hired to teach English at Southern Oregon Normal School. Moving ahead, we reach a fateful day in 1934, when Angus Bowmer was walking with a friend through downtown Ashland and Lithia Park. For some reason, as he looked that day at the bare concrete walls that had been the foundation of a 1917 Chautauqua dome building, they reminded him of the shape of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London. Passionate about theater, especially Shakespeare, he was inspired to try to present Shakespeare’s plays in this open-air site. With support from college colleagues, some of the town’s business people and the City Council, it happened first on July 2, 3 and 4, 1935.

As you can see from the playbill, Bowmer even had the courage to call it the First Annual Shakespearean Festival. Many of us are excited about OSF’s upcoming 90^th anniversary in 2025!

Tourism: The value of tourism for our economy is not even a modern “invention.” Ashland grew right on the main north-south wagon train road (later a stage coach and automobile road) between California and Oregon. With our location on the northern foothills of the Siskiyou Mountain range, Ashland was (and is) a natural stopping point for travelers. The first “hotel” or lodge, called the Ashland House, was erected in 1855, when the population was fewer than 50 people.

With arrival of California-Oregon train service in December 1887, Ashland’s population and economy boomed. Many new hotels served the train tourists, and later the auto tourists. Two of these historic hotels are still in business today, both beautifully renovated. The Columbia Hotel was built in 1910, and was transformed just this year into a hip ,art-filled and eco-focused hotel.

After the Ashland Springs Hotel opened in 1925 (as the Lithia Springs Hotel), it went through many difficult decades until a complete renovation from 1998 to 2000 brought it back to life. It will celebrate its 100^th anniversary next year.

I hope this article has helped you understand how Ashland citizens of the past contributed to the culturally-rich city that so many people love today.

Peter Finkle leads walking tours and publishes the premiere website about Ashland history, art and neighborhoods: WalkAshland.com.