Jacksonville Review – March 2026

DURING THE MONTH OF MARCH, McKee Bridge Historical Society will exhibit the works of Evelyn Byrne Williams at the Jacksonville Library. Evelyn has been a creative force throughout her 99-plus years, in multiple media: oils, pen and ink, appliqué and quilting (including seven “museum” story-telling quilts), and illustrations for her own books and those of other authors. Many of the pieces on display were created while Evelyn owned the Lamplighter Gallery at 165 E. California Street —originally the Judge & Nunan Saddlery and Harness Shop, now The Crown Jewel.

Evelyn is the great-granddaughter of John and Maryum McKee who arrived in the Rogue Valley in 1853 and staked a homestead on the flanks of a butte they named after Roxy Ann Hutchinson Bowen, John’s maternal aunt and Maryum’s stepmother. John was a blacksmith and found it profitable to commute to Jacksonville and service miners’ tools. In 1855 the McKees moved to Logtown on Poorman’s Creek where they were closer to the bustling mining town and could work their own claims. Evelyn’s artwork depicts the McKees’ pioneer life as well as the environs and neighbors of her maternal side, the Byrnes, ranchers at Watkins (today’s Applegate Lake).

Evelyn also captured, and has been part of Jacksonville history and preservation. Her painting of the town’s second schoolhouse, built on Bigham Knoll in 1867, hung in the office of the State Superintendent of Public Education. Her husband Clarence was postmaster and oversaw the opening of the new post office in 1968. Each weekday Clarence would walk down California Street with the postal receipts for deposit at the U.S. Bank in the historic United States Hotel next to Evelyn’s gallery.

Many of Evelyn’s works are interpretations of vintage photographs, from the rough-hewn Byrne cabin to iconic Native American portraits. Several of the pieces at the Library are displayed with the photographs that inspired Evelyn. If you are the lucky owner of one of Evelyn’s creations, please let MBHS know at mckeebridge1917@gmail.com. We would like to include digitized versions and record their provenance in the Virtual Museum at www.mckeebridge.org, for the benefit of today’s history-lovers and future generations.

Featured image: Evelyn Byrne Williams at her Lamplighter Gallery. Photo: Kenn Knackstedt Courtesy MBHS