Guest My View – July 2026

WHERE’S THE MUSEUM? People have been asking that question ever since the Southern Oregon Historical Society was forced to close its Jacksonville museum in 2010 due to loss of county funding. Well, by the end of summer, Jacksonville will have an answer!

You may not realize it, but Jacksonville has had a museum all along. It’s a “Citywide Museum” called our National Historic Landmark District, the first on the West Coast, and boasts over 100 historic properties. But every museum needs a starting point and soon it will have one.

Through a partnership between the City of Jacksonville and Historic Jacksonville, Inc. and funding from the city, state, foundations, and the community, the town’s 1881 Old City Hall is becoming the Jacksonville History Center, a museum “home base” that provides an overview of how a gold rush camp became the late 1800s commercial, governmental, and social hub of Southern Oregon.

When you step through the door, interactive exhibits, educational artifacts, emerging technology, and external links to other resources will highlight aspects of the town’s and region’s history—Indigenous people; gold rush and donation land claims along with the miners, settlers, and merchants they attracted; the Chinese and Oregon’s first Chinatown; the coming of the railroad; the town’s decline; the Great Depression and Jacksonville’s second “gold rush”; and the town’s renaissance. Exhibits will be periodically updated with “fresh” content. Physical and virtual tours will augment this physical anchor and introduce guests to all the ways they can explore our town’s history.

This approach also offers the opportunity to more accurately portray Jacksonville history. Many accepted historical accounts have been based on oral histories, often 30 to 50 years after the fact, and told from the white settler point of view (usually male). We are fortunate to now have access to contemporary documents that provide insight into the significant roles played by women and marginalized cultures whose contributions have been under-represented in “traditional” versions of that history. Both museum exhibits and tours will recognize these individuals and cultures and acknowledge their roles, and both exhibits and tours will include links to additional resources that guests can pursue.

And as the History Center and museum base, Old City Hall again becomes a vital community resource. Up until 2020, Jacksonville’s 1881 Old City Hall was Oregon’s oldest government building remaining in continuous government use. When the City of Jacksonville finished restoring the 1883 Jackson County Courthouse, all city government functions were moved to what is now New City Hall, the former SOHS Jacksonville Museum. Old City Hall has stood vacant ever since. Finding a use for it became a “bee” in the City Council’s bonnet. Converting it into the “doorway” to Jacksonville’s citywide museum ensures that it will continue to make history.

But the stories do not stop at the History Center door. They spill into the streets of the town’s historic district and invite you to explore Jacksonville’s living historic landscape through guided tours, GPS self-guided walks, virtual experiences, historical articles, and community activities. A museum website hosts blogs and tours and a calendar of history-themed events. QR codes on exhibits link to additional information for those who want to take a deeper dive.

The History Center and “Citywide Museum” will be open year-round on a daily basis so there will always be something for visitors to do and there will always be an answer to “where’s the museum?” In the meantime, you can enjoy a sneak peek at Jacksonville’s new History Center when you visit https://www.jacksonvillemuseum.org/. And if you would like to volunteer to be a History Center Host, just use the contact form to send us an email. We would welcome your help in sharing Jacksonville’s storied history!