Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. It lies along Interstate 5 approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of the California border and near the south end of the Rogue Valley. The city's population was 21,360 at the 2020 census.
The city is the home of Southern Oregon University (SOU) and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF). These are important contributors to Ashland's economy, which also depends on restaurants, galleries, and retail stores that cater to tourists. Lithia Park along Ashland Creek, historic buildings, and a paved intercity bike trail provide additional visitor attractions.
Ashland, originally called "Ashland Mills", was named after Ashland County, Ohio, the original home of founder Abel Helman, and secondarily for Ashland, Kentucky, where other founders had family connections. Ashland has a council-manager government assisted by citizen committees. History Prior to the arrival of White settlers in mid-19th century, the Shasta people lived in the valley along Ashland Creek approximately where today's city is located. Early Hudson's Bay Company hunters and trappers following the Siskiyou Trail passed through the site in the 1820s. In the late 1840s, mainly American settlers following the Applegate Trail began passing through the area. By the early 1850s, the Donation Land Claim Act brought many to the Rogue Valley and into conflict with its native people. These often violent clashes, known ultimately as the Rogue River Wars, continued until 1856.
In 1851, gold was discovered at Rich Gulch, a tributary of Jackson Creek, and a tent city grew on its banks, today's Jacksonville. Settlers arrived in the Ashland area in January 1852, including Robert B. Hargadine, Sylvester Pease, Abel D. Helman, Eber Emery, and others. Helman and Hargadine filed the first donation land claims in Ashland. Helman and Emery built a sawmill along what was then called Mill Creek to turn timber into lumber for settlers. In 1854, they and another settler, M. B. Morris, built a second mill, Ashland Flouring Mills, to grind local wheat into flour. The community around the mill became known as "Ashland Mills". A post office was established in Ashland Mills in 1855 with Helman as postmaster.
During the 1860s and 1870s the community grew, establishing a school, churches, businesses and a large employer, Ashland Woolen Mills, which produced clothing and blankets from local wool. In 1871, the Post Office dropped "Mills" from Ashland's name. In 1872 Reverend J. H. Skidmore opened a college, Ashland Academy, a predecessor of Southern Oregon University.
In 1887, Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco, California, were joined by rail at Ashland. Until 1926, when most rail service began taking a different route (east through Klamath Falls to avoid the steep grade through the Siskiyou Mountains), Ashland thrived on rail trade of local products, including pears, peaches, and apples.
In 1908, the Women's Civic Improvement Club petitioned for the creation of community space along Ashland Creek, which became Ashland Canyon Park. The discovery of lithia water near Emigrant Lake around the same time led to a plan to establish a mineral spa at the park. Voters approved bonds to pay for the project, which included piping the mineral water from its source to Ashland. The town engaged John McLaren, landscape architect of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, to design the park, renamed Lithia Springs Park, later shortened to Lithia Park. Although the park was popular, the mineral spa plans proved too expensive for local taxpayers and were abandoned in 1916. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs took to bottling and selling mineral waters from the area's springs.
During the Fourth of July celebration in 1935, Angus L. Bowmer arranged the first performances of what would become the annual Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Ashland was a sundown town at least until World War II.
Many of Ashland's historic buildings have been preserved and restored. The city has 59 individual structures and four historic districts (Downtown District, Siskiyou-Hargadine District, Railroad District, Skidmore Academy District) on the National Register of Historic Places. The structures include the Enders Building (home of the Columbia Hotel), which from 1910 to 1928 contained the largest mercantile establishment between Sacramento and Portland. Some of Ashland's houses built before 1900 are: the Orlando Coolidge House (1875), the Isaac Woolen House (1876), the W. H. Atkinson House (1880), the John McCall House (1883), the Nils Ahlstrom House (1888), the H. B. Carter House (1888), and the Colonel William H. Silsby House (1896). The E. V. Carter House (built in 1909) is in a remarkably good state of preservation.
Geography
Ashland is at above sea level in the foothills of the Siskiyou and Cascade ranges, about north of the California border on Interstate 5 (I-5). About south of Ashland and north of the California border is Siskiyou Summit, which at is the highest point on I-5. Ashland is about southeast of Medford and south of Portland. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of about , all land.
Ashland Creek and its tributaries begin on the flanks of Mount Ashland, at above sea level in the Siskiyou Mountains south of the city. Upstream (south) of the city boundary, these streams flow mainly through the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest. The creek flows through the city to meet Bear Creek, which roughly parallels I-5 along the east side of Ashland. Bear Creek, one of many streams in the Rogue Valley, flows generally northwest to join the Rogue River near Gold Hill, and from there the river flows generally west to its mouth on the Pacific Ocean.
Oregon Route 99, running roughly parallel to I-5, passes through downtown Ashland. Oregon Route 66 enters Ashland from the east and intersects Route 99 near the city center. Route 66 leads east to Klamath Falls.
Climate Ashland lies within Oregon's southwest interior climate zone, in which all but the higher-elevation sites are in the rain shadow of the Oregon Coast Range to the west. The largest urban areas in this zone in addition to Ashland are Medford and Grants Pass in the Rogue Valley, and Roseburg in the Umpqua River Valley further north. Although the mountain peaks in this zone receive up to of precipitation a year, the urban areas and the valleys in which they lie generally get or less. This valley climate is particularly good for growing fruit, especially pears, and for producing other crops and farm goods such as hay, grain, poultry, and beef.
Cloud cover in nearby Medford varies from an average of 21 percent in July to 86 percent in December. On average, precipitation falls in Ashland on 114 days each year and totals about . The average annual snowfall is only . The average relative humidity, measured at 4 p.m. daily, is 47 percent in Medford, varying from 26 percent in July to 76 percent in December. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Ashland has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Csb).
On average, Ashland tends to be 2–3 °F cooler than Medford due to being 600 feet higher in elevation. The coolest month is December, with an average high temperature of , and the warmest month is July, with an average high of about . The highest temperature ever recorded in Ashland was , observed on June 29, 2021, and the record low of occurred in December 1972. The wettest "rain year" has been from July 1926 to June 1927 with and the driest from July 1954 to June 1955 with only . The wettest month on record has been December 1964 with , but the only other months with over have been December 1996 with , November 1903 with and November 1998 with .
Ashland's coldest recorded daytime temperature was in December 1972. During the full year, the coldest day of the year averages around or just above freezing. Warm summer nights are rare, with the record of being set as far back as 1910. The mean for the warmest summer night between 1991 and 2020 was at a mild .
Demographics
Racial and ethnic composition + Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent White 17,696 82.8% Black or African American 244 1.1% American Indian and Alaska Native 185 0.9% Asian 475 2.2% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 71 0.3% Some other race 779 3.6% Two or more races 1,910 8.9% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 1,616 7.6%
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Ashland had a population of 21,360. The median age was 45.4 years. 14.3% of residents were under the age of 18 and 28.0% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 85.3 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 82.8 males age 18 and over.
99.9% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.1% lived in rural areas.
There were 9,832 households in Ashland, of which 19.1% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 37.2% were married-couple households, 19.9% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 34.7% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 36.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 18.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 10,966 housing units, of which 10.3% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 54.6% were owner-occupied and 45.4% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.7% and the rental vacancy rate was 8.2%.
2010 census
At the 2010 census, there were 20,078 people, 9,409 households, and 4,542 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 10,455 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was about 90% White, 2% Asian, 1% African American, 1% Native American, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 1.4% from other races, and 4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race were about 5% of the population.
There were 9,409 households, out of which about 21% had children under the age of 18 living with them. About 34% were married couples living together; 10% had a female householder with no husband present, about 4% had a male householder with no wife present, and about 52% were non-families. About 38% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.03 and the average family size was 2.63.
The median age in the city was 42.9 years. About 16% of residents were under the age of 18, and about 16% were between the ages of 18 and 24. Rounded to the nearest whole number, 21% were from 25 to 44 years old; 30% were from 45 to 64; and 18% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was about 46% male and 54% female.
In 2010, the median income for a household in the city was $41,334, and the median income for a family was $58,409. Males had a median income of $50,368 versus $34,202 for females. The per capita income for the city was $28,941. About 21% of the population and 13% of families had incomes below the poverty line. Out of the total population, about 30% of those under the age of 18 and 3.5% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
Government Ashland has a council-manager government since a Charter Amendment was passed by the voters in a Special Election in May 2020, (changing the form of government from Mayor/Administrator). It consists of a city manager, a mayor, and six council members. The mayor and council members are elected by the city's voters to serve staggered four-year terms.
Julie Akins, after serving a partial term as a city councilor, was elected as mayor in 2020. On January 23, 2023, she announced her resignation effective January 27. On February 7, the council unanimously elected Tonya Graham to serve the remainder of Akins' term.