National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet

NPS Form 10-900-A 0MB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section Number: 8 Page: 2 Geneva-Minnesota Historic District, Medford, OR
growth and the most fortunate part of it is that it has the resources
to justify such growth and the spirit to carry them through.... 2
Faced with a sudden overwhelming need for housing, Medford's entrepreneurs and speculators
drawn to the area by the boom, turned to the long open agricultural lands east of Bear Creek.
Late 19th century photos show this vast plain as one of orchards and widely scattered lone
houses, virtually all of which were connected to the agricultural uses of the area. A period
comment upon an early 1880 view of east Medford, published in 1911, notes;
... the feature which causes the stranger to doubt that the view can
be one of the east side is the entire absence of residences of any
kind on either side of the street for a considerable distance eastward
from the bridge. It was just open county then... . 3
Fueled by the orchard boom, numerous additions to Medford were platted east of Bear Creek in
the first fifteen years of the 20th Century. Subdivided into blocks and lots, former orchard tracts
became prime residential real estate and local newspapers were soon filled with developer's
advertisements of property for sale. The old wooden bridge across the creek, the sole
transportation link between the area and downtown, was replaced in 1912 with a modern concrete
span, drastically increasing the practicality of "Eastside" living. This improvement greatly added
to the impetus for new construction. The burgeoning area soon was in heated competition with
the earlier residential areas west of Bear Creek for prominence and new investment. In April
1911 the newly formed "East Side Improvement Association," comprised of developers and real
estate interests, began a campaign geared toward redefining the roles of either shore of Bear
Creek;
MEDFORD HAS FOUND HER STRIDE. Her phenomenal
growth of the past two years will be eclipsed by that of the coming
year......Yours is the opportunity to play a man's part NOW in the
laying down of a skeleton plan about which shall be built the CITY
BEAUTIFUL! The first strong line of that plan must be the
2 "Medford's Population" [Editorial], Medford Sun, 2-December-1910, 2:1-2.
3 "East Main Street Twenty Years Ago," Medford Mail Tribune, 9-June-1910.