Ashland

Ashland: Lithia Park

Ashland, city, Jackson county, southwestern Oregon, U.S. It lies along Bear Creek, in the southern reaches of the Rogue River valley, at the base of the Siskiyou Mountains, just southeast of Medford. Settled in 1852 (during a gold rush) and laid out in 1860, it was named for both Ashland county, Ohio, and Ashland, Kentucky, and was known as Ashland Mills for its sawmills and gristmills. It was located on the Siskiyou Toll Road (now part of the Pacific Highway) that linked Sacramento, California, with Portland, Oregon, and after 1884 it was served by the Oregon and California (now Southern Pacific) Railroad and developed as a lumber town. Ashland adjoins Rogue River National Forest, and tourism is a major source of income. Since 1935 the city has been home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which has an eight-and-one-half month season. Lithia Park, a 93-acre (38-hectare) tract of land near the city centre, is a local attraction; spring water (known as Lithia water for its high concentration of lithium salts)—once the focus of a mineral spa—is piped in to the park’s bubblers. Ashland is also the home of Southern Oregon State College (1926). Inc. 1874. Pop. (2000) 19,522; (2010) 20,078.