History of Grants Pass
From Sundown to Sunrise
Grant Pass’ history as a sundown town finds its origins in the Black exclusionary laws enacted during the formation of Oregon. These laws made it illegal for Black Americans to enter into, own property, and make contracts in Oregon. Though sundown towns were nearly unanimous across Oregon, the term “sundown town” is still unfamiliar to many Oregonians. Sundown towns can be defined as communities that purposefully excluded African Americans and other racial minorities from living in, or simply passing through, the community through a culture of fear, violence, and intimidation.
Sundown towns are a unique phenomenon in American history in that they were so widespread but so little documented. It is known that there were dozens, if not hundreds, of signs in communities across the country that read some version of, “Nigger, don’t let the sun come down on you here,” yet there is no known picture of one of these signs in American circulation. Oral history gathered from Grants Pass residents with first-hand memories of our sundown town era frequently mention a sign that hung on the Caveman Bridge up into the 1970s that directed African Americans to be out of town by sundown.
Sundown towns mostly existed outside of the traditional South, and, unlike Jim Crow laws, were rarely codified into city ordinances. Sundown towns were an identity built on creating and maintaining all-white communities via social and cultural practices. Oral history tells us of Black entertainers from all sectors (actors, athletes, singers, etc) came into Grants Pass to perform but then needed to find lodging outside of town – as hotels would not allow them to stay within city limits. Yet, Oral history also tells us that some Grants Pass residents risked their own reputation to help these visitors–either by offering their own home or by driving these visitors to hotels outside of town that would accept their patronage.
As a group, African Americans were more widely dispersed across the U.S. in 1890 than they were in 1930 when they were systematically pushed out of rural spaces into condensed urban settings due to communities “going sundown.” For instance, 17 of Oregon’s 32 counties had 0-10 African Americans living in them in 1890, yet that number would increase to 28 of Oregon’s 32 counties by 1930. Naturally, these forced all-white communities provided fertile ground for the growth of white supremacist groups throughout the 20th Century. Oregon had the largest Ku Klux Klan west of the Mississippi and has had an extensive history of skinhead, militia, and other white power groups as a byproduct of Oregon’s founding as a “white utopia.” There are many pictures documenting the KKK parade that took place in downtown Grants Pass in the early 1900s. Oral history tells us that the KKK continued to walk in the parade (the predecessor of the Boatnik parade) up into the early 1970s.
Despite gradual racial integration, Oregon was still 97% white in 1970 and most communities outside of the urban core were 99% white during this time. Today, African Americans only make up 2% of the Oregon population and are represented by a fraction of a percent in most communities across the state. Grants Pass’ reputation as a sundown town persists, with various hotels and real estate agents reporting getting questions (as recently as the 2020’s) of whether or not Grants Pass is a safe place for African Americans.
Thankfully, Grants Pass’ story does not have to end here! A local group, Grants Pass Remembrance, is working to help us develop a new identity as a “sunrise community”, the opposite to a sundown town–a place where everyone can feel safe, respected, and like they can call this place their home. Through oral history collection, events in the community, community conversations, educational material, and physical manifestations of value, Grants Pass Remembrance seeks to improve the ability of people of color to be themselves and find a sense of home in a community that was once hostile to their presence. While currently focused on the African American experience, the vision of a true sunrise community will encompass the experiences of and seek to uplift other marginalized and oppressed groups.
Grants Pass has the power to write a new ending to the story of a sundown town–an ending where this same community develops a new reputation for being welcoming to everyone.
For more information visit:
Grants Pass Remembrance’s Link Tree
Native Heritage of the Rogue and Illinois Valleys
Since time immemorial, the Rogue and Illinois Valleys have been the ancestral home to the Takelma and other indigenous tribes, who’s descendants today continue to carry with them a combination of old and new cultural traditions and knowledge. While November is Native Heritage Month, Grants Pass celebrates this area’s original people and their culture year round. One of the best ways to connect with local native culture is to attend a pow wow, learn about indigenous history, and to support native artisans, businesses, and organizations.
For over 10,000 years, indigenous cultures have lived in what is now considered the Rogue and Illinois valleys, including the three main tribes—-Takelma, Shasta, and Athabaskan. While all three spoke different languages and had unique cultures, they all shared a hunter/gatherer lifestyle, relying on wild game, salmon, camas root, berries, acorns, and other fruits of the wilderness. While the tribes maintained a village along the Rogue River and neighboring creeks, throughout the different seasons they moved around regionally to hunt and gather food, following the food source between the valleys and mountains.
While written language is a relatively modern form of storytelling, up until a few hundred years ago, the Takelma expressed their spiritual beliefs through oral myths and legends- stories often told by the matriarchs of the tribe. Spirits were associated with particular plants, animals, places, and people, and events such as weather or conflict were influenced by the spirits. By being respectful of the land and animals around them, the Takelma would remain in good standing with the spiritual world.
Southern Oregon’s native tribes first witnessed Euro-American explorers during the 1700s as fur trappers made their way to the Pacific Northwest. While not in large numbers, the native populations saw no need for concern as long as the trappers respected their land. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 guaranteed tribal land rights and that utmost good faith to be observed towards the native people by white settlers. However, things began to change after the United States and Great Britain hammered out an agreement which determined the territorial boundaries between Canada and the US in 1846, despite the fact that the land they were settling on was already claimed by earlier inhabitants. Soon, the Western Expansion brought more settlers along the Oregon Trail, spawning the creation of the Oregon Territory. Over the next few years, more and more settlers arrived and through the Oregon Donation Land Act, over 2,500,000 acres of native land was claimed by these new people.
After the birth of the Gold Rush, prospectors and settlers moved to the Rogue Valley in masses- significantly changing the landscape of Southern Oregon. These new people consumed the land’s bounty without restrictions, obliterating the hillsides with hydraulic mining, forests once used as hunting grounds were chopped down, and mining operations clouded up the river, depleting the salmon. Additionally, the Euro-Americans were agriculture-based, so meadows that were once vital areas to gather native plants became farms and orchards.
Violence peaked during the Rogue River Wars with the most intense fighting taking place between 1855-1856. This major escalation was sparked after rogue settlers and miners killed 50 native men, women, and children, and tribes responded by attacking homesteads and settlements . To this day, the Rogue River Wars remain one of the bloodiest “Indian wars” in US history and the largest war in the Pacific Northwest, which left more than 600 people dead.
After the Rogue River Wars and a slew of treaties and broken promises, the tribes were forcibly removed from their ancestral home, and to walk Oregon’s own Trail of Tears to the newly formed Siletz Reservation near modern day Newport. They made this journey on foot, traveling 33 days and escorted by the military roughly 265 miles to the coastal reservation. Many of them died along the way, and those who tried to escape were killed or sent to prison.
Rather than having their own reservation, this was a conglomeration of multiple tribes around Oregon and Northern California, who were also taken from their homeland. These early years were hard, as they were forced into an unfamiliar landscape with unfamiliar people, and the reservation was often riddled with poverty, sickness from new diseases like smallpox, and low spirits from being strangers in a strange land. Another hardship faced was the white practice of “civilizing” the native populations. For thousands of years, they had been hunter gatherers and here, they were forced to work long hours everyday cultivating the land and growing food they weren’t accustomed to in a foreign coastal climate.
Despite these hardships, the very fact that some survived and handed down the knowledge and culture to future generations is a testament to their people’s strength and courage. In the 1970s, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians became the second tribe in the nation to have have their termination act repealed with the passage of the Siletz Restoration Act, restoring federal recognition. While many continue to live on or near the reservation, some moved back to the Rogue Valley, including Agnes Baker Pilgrim. Known by many as “Grandma Aggie” she was the granddaughter of Chief Harney, the first elected chief of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and was a vocal advocate for indigenous rights and clean water here in Southern Oregon. Today her family and community continue to honor her legacy, by promoting education, land stewardship, and support for the native people of the Rogue and Illinois Valleys.
One of the best ways to learn about Native American culture is to attend a pow wow or annual festival, like the annual Mothers Day Pow Wow at Riverside Park and the Rogue Valley Veterans Pow Wow at Valley of the Rogue State Park.
Here, you’ll find traditional dancing, drumming, and singing from all over Indigenous America on display. Throughout these annual gatherings, try native cuisines, support native artists and crafters, and learn about regalia and other ceremonies.
Another way to learn about the area’s indigenous history is by going to historical or spiritually significant sites. Just 30 minutes from downtown Grants Pass is Table Rocks, known as Ti’tanakh by the Takelma. These large volcanic mesas are prominent geographical features of the Rogue Valley and have held spiritual significance for thousands of years. Additionally, Table Rocks were an important place to fish for salmon, hunt deer, and forage camas. Plan a hike to Upper or Lower Table Rock, where you can experience the views of Alwilamchaldis (Mt McLoughlin) and rim of Crater Lake, just as people have done for thousands of years.
While downtown, drop by the Josephine County Historical Society’s library and check out their collection of books and photographs from the area’s earlier days. Afterwards, take a stroll around the historic district where you’ll find murals and plaques celebrating native heritage and culture of the area.
Historic Walking Tour
Explore many of the significant historic buildings in downtown Grants Pass.
Tourism Industry
Meanwhile, people began to realize that tourism was an industry itself. As the other industries lost some of their muscle, this new idea began and continues to take hold. Tourists come to Grants Pass to get a taste of small town charm in our Historic District, cozy lodging, restaurants with GMO-free and local ingredients, unique family-owned shops and so much more.
You can discover and learn more history about Grants Pass at the Josephine County Historical Society.
Early 1800s & the Applegate Brothers
Between 1825 and 1843, Hudson Bay trappers were the first white people to travel through the Rogue River Valley. Early settlers and trappers frequently referred to the local Indian tribes as “The Rogues” because of their willingness to fight for their rights.
In 1843 the Applegate brothers, Jesse and Lindsay, were part of a band of settlers traveling the Oregon Trail from Missouri. The young sons of both men died while crossing the Columbia River on a raft that was carrying all of their belongings. At that point the Applegate brothers vowed to backtrack and hopefully discover a safer, alternate route to Oregon and avoid the treacherous Columbia River. Beginning at Fort Hall, Idaho in 1846, they forged a new trail through Nevada, California and eventually through the Rogue Valley. However, they failed to note the spectacular beauty which would one day provide Oregon’s greatest tourist attractions. The trail followed by the Applegate party was on the south side of the Rogue River and crossed at Fort Vannoy about five miles west of present Grants Pass.
The Applegate wagon train of emigrants in 1846 made the first wagon tracks through the beautiful Rogue River Valley. The emigrants of that time had but one destination in mind, the Willamette Valley, and Josephine County was named for Josephine Rollins Ort, who came to Illinois Valley with her father in 1851. Her party was credited with the first discovery of gold in Southern Oregon. This event was the catalyst for a major migration to Southern Oregon of prospectors seeking their fortunes.
Gold Mining
While pioneers set down roots and homesteaded, the first real industrialists came in search of gold. In 1852, sailors who had deserted their ship near Crescent City started for the newly discovered gold fields at Jacksonville, but found rich deposits at a location in the Illinois Valley just 25 miles south of the present Grants Pass.
Then the rush was on!
The promise of gold caused Grants Pass to grow quickly. Men flooded north from California to pan for gold in creeks, sift through mud in sluice boxes and to later use large hydraulic works to find it. This discovery at “Sailor Diggin’s” immediately became an important mining center with a population of several thousand.
The name was later changed to Waldo in honor of William Waldo, brother of Daniel Waldo, a prominent figure in early Oregon history. In 1858, many miners left for new discoveries on the Frazier River of British Columbia never to return again. Nothing remains today of the many mining towns that sprang up in the Illinois Valley.
The Railroad & Our Name
Like many towns, Grants Pass owes much of its growth to the railroad. Grants Pass served as a stagecoach stop in the 1860’s and became a rail head with the completion of the Oregon-California Railroad (now Southern Pacific) in 1884.
The name was selected to honor General U.S. Grant’s success at Vicksburg the same year the post office was established in 1865. Until after 1900, our name still retained the original spelling of Grant’s Pass, using an apostrophe. The rapid growth of population in the county brought with it tradesman of many types, including miners, farmers, lumberman, and orchardists. Grants Pass became the trading center of the county.
Center of Activity
When the tracks were extended into the modest settlement of Grants Pass around 1880, things starting hopping. Suddenly, the center of activity shifted from the western part of Josephine County, with its mining, to the east and Grants Pass.
The first downtown building was constructed in 1883. In 1885, Grants Pass won an election to be the new seat of Josephine County, beating out Kerbyville (now Kerby) and Wilderville for the honor. The county’s first courthouse went up in Grants Pass in 1886. The first church here was the Newman Methodist Church, built in 1887 on the site of the present building, which was completed in 1890 under the leadership of Rev. T.L. Jones.
By the 1890’s the Grants Pass Water, Light and Power Co. generated power at a dam a few hundred feet west of the present Caveman Bridge, the first of several bridges to span the Rogue River. The city became a bustling frontier town with dirt streets, hotels and lots of saloons. It gradually matured and grew, adding banks, schools, varied stores and even an opera house.
The Historic District continues to be a popular spot to explore because it constantly grows and develops yet preserves the history and stories of many buildings.
Lumber & Farming
The county’s timber was a useful resource from the beginning, if only to supply logs for cabins and firewood to keep the chill off. Once the easy gold was gone and even the Chinese miners had moved on, the county needed something else to survive. Lumber was that something.
The trees began to fall. Mills large and small popped up around the county, but especially in Grants Pass, where the railroad stopped. They turned out wood products of all kinds, from boxes to window sashes to planks. Much like the occasional mine, such as the one found on Creekside Road today, the mills are also still working. The log yards are full of pyramids of trees – but not like it used to be.
All along, of course, there were farms and dairies. Local growers tried various products, including vineyards and hops, both of which became less profitable once prohibition began. For a while the county was a major U.S. producer of gladiola bulbs.
