The block on North Main Street between Laurel and Manzanita streets has been associated with education in Ashland for 150 years, since the Rev. Skidmore first started a college called “The Academy” in 1872. Briscoe Elementary was dedicated in 1949 and closed in 2004. The school is now owned by the city and leased to the Oregon Child Development Coalition.
At the end of May, faced with the challenges of the pandemic and staffing shortages, Standing Stone served its last Oak Street Amber and closed its doors for good. Floyd and Margaret Whittle would probably be surprised their little leased garage building became a beloved restaurant.
Originally called “Ashland Mills,” Ashland was founded around Abel Helman’s water-powered sawmill on Ashland Creek, later transformed into a flour mill. The Ashland Woolen Mill, on Helman Street, was one of the city’s major employers in the 19th century. As late as the 1950s, Ashland still boasted half a dozen lumber mills.
Ashland boosters in the early 1920s would have none of building a hotel the same size as those of rival towns; they would build the tallest building between San Francisco and Portland!
Lithia Park is often called Ashland’s “crown jewel.” Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, it was among the first public parks in southern Oregon — but, if not for a group of persistent women, things would be much different.
What’s now a treasured-yet-crumbling Ashland landmark started as an attraction at an international exposition in San Francisco more than a century ago.
Pam Hammond beamed earlier this week while talking about new plans in store for downtown Ashland’s Paddington Station sister stores, The Jewel Box and Inspired By Oregon, which are consolidating and moving into the prominent Fortmiller building across the street.
Ashland councilors Gina DuQuenne and Dylan Bloom on Wednesday gave Southern Oregon University students a lesson in how to express mutual admiration even while disagreeing. The councilors met with 15 students at Britt Hall to discuss voting, Ashland-centered topics and how to bridge the communication gap between the SOU campus and Ashland.
Review: “Witch,” isn’t exactly a Halloween piece per se, but it is unsettling. And if you like stories that are distinctive, disturbing yet thought-provoking, this might be for you. This is a play where no one is as they seem; where our motives and desires can give rise to good or evil.
Bob Palermini, professional photographer, will give a presentation about photojournalism at the Southern Oregon Photographic Association meeting on October 15 in Medford. He studied photojournalism in college and has been a photographer for Ashland.news since shortly after it debuted in January 2022.
Herbert Rothschild: It would be stunning if the presidential candidates were asked during a debate whether they are disturbed by the prospect of leaving office with blood on their hands.
A quarter-mile stretch of Walker Avenue between the railroad tracks and East Main Street will be closed Friday, Oct. 11, and Monday, Oct. 14, so roadwork can be done,the city of Ashland announced Thursday. Profiling and grinding work is planned for 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, while overlay is set to be laid down Monday from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m
(It’s free)
