National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet

NFS Form 10-900-A OMB 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: 8 Geneva-Minnesota Historic District, Medford, OR
original surface was of bituminous material over gravel, an inferior pavement that was replaced
with concrete (possibly, although doubtfully, patterned as Geneva's) in 1937. This concrete
surface itself has now been replaced or covered with the present asphalt. 18 While other concrete
panel street surfaces survive in Medford, most notably Reddy Street, no other example of the
decorative scoring of Geneva has been located anywhere in the Rogue Valley area. The unique
character of the roadbed, creating a audible and sensory change when one drives onto Geneva
from either entrance, helps to define the Geneva-Minnesota District as a separate, unique,
enclave within the larger city. In recognition of this character, Medford's Public Works
Department has recently made an extra effort to maintain consistency with the grid-surface
whenever maintenance to Geneva is required. 19
In addition to the city services that were laid during the original development of the Geneva-
Minnesota District, Humphrey-Knight et al also established a system of character defining site
features that tie the individual properties together and remain an important visual element within
the district. The street trees that line the roadways have now grown to huge proportions and add
considerably to the area's identity. It is, however, the raised lawns and retaining walls separating
the private and public spaces throughout the entire district that distinguish the development. A
period report, commenting upon this feature, noted;
... the fact that both Geneva avenue and Minnesota were deep cut
before being paved gives the lawns an excellent chance to be
terraced and thus beauty is added not only to the lawns but as well
to the bungalows built upon the surrounding lots. A cement
retaining wall, one and a half feet high, will be put in at the sidewalk
level..... 20
18 The original plans for Minnesota's paving survive at the Medford City Engineer's office. See also Field book
189-2 (Oct 1937) for repaying specifications and Oregon Highway Field Notes, Book 1 of 2, page 97 for
condition report in May 1937 which reads, in part "badly broken, should be replaced" in reference to the
original 1911 bitulithic surface.
19 Parker, personal communication. City crews have constructed a "press" from rebar to mimic the grid pattern
in any new concrete patches that have been required to the street in recent years. See also the Medford Mail
Tribune, 27-May-1992.
20 Medford Mail Tribune. 31-January-1912 6:1.