START
Begin this free self-guided tour at Jackson Street and Douglas Avenue, on the west hand side. Reference this website as you walk or download the audio tour.
WALK
The tour is about half a mile, and should take about 20 to 40 minutes to complete, if you walk without stopping. But feel free to stop along the way.
END
You will end the tour at the south end of Main Street, close to your starting point. Stop by the Roseburg Visitor Center afterwards to learn more about the area.
Begin your walk through time...
JACKSON STREET
THE TOUR
Millinery Shop Dr. Bethenia Owens-Adair
This enterprising woman came across the plains to Oregon as a young girl in the Great Migration of 1848. From hardy pioneer stock, she had the misfortune, at the age of 14, of marrying a man who turned out to be idle and abusive.
A single mother at 19, she chose to support herself and her young son rather than depend on her family for support. She went from being basically illiterate, to a successful shop owner on Jackson Street, to the first official woman doctor in Oregon while in her late thirties.
In her later years, she campaigned for women’s rights, the temperance movement and also for eugenics, which became a popular mode of thought in 1920s America. Her gravestone, in Yakima County, Washington, reads “Only the enterprising and the brave are actuated to become pioneers.”
Special thanks to Samantha Starns, Adventure Elopement Photographer, for voicing this character. Learn more about Sam Starns here.
Enjoy this free sample. To download the rest of the GPS-enabled audio version of the walking tour, click here.
JACKSON STREET
THE TOUR
Japanese Bazaar China Sam
Are China Sam’s bones at rest? At least his hard-working, generous spirit and love for the Roseburg townspeople remain a beautiful legacy.
China Sam came from China at age 19 during the Gold Rush and made his way to Roseburg circa 1866. He went from house servant to business owner who earned the respect of the who's who of turn of the century Roseburg. He owned two “Japanese Bazaars” downtown, on Cass Avenue and Jackson Street. He ended up giving away almost more than he sold, as he took great joy in calling children into his shop and filling their hands with toys, trinkets, treats and treasures from the East.
In his sixties he suffered from poor health and, due to a tragic misunderstanding, ended up having both his legs amputated at the knees. He continued to live many decades, getting around town on crutches and knee pads, and later was cared for by the generosity of the Roseburg townspeople, who took up a collection to make sure he would have a home, food to eat and a caretaker throughout his later years.
China Sam lived to the age of 91 and was very adamant that he would be buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Roseburg in a particular way. Controversially, his bones were dug up by the Chinese government in 1948 and shipped to China; they were delayed two years in port due to a shiftless Captain who was later criminally tried for the act.
Special thanks to Eric Andrews "Eric Yo" of Say Yes to the DJ or voicing this character. Learn more about Say Yes to the DJ here.
The Umpqua Hotel George Rutherford
It was the largest man-made disaster in Oregon history, and one man had to live with the guilt.
George Rutherford was a happy, church-going family man who drove trucks for a living. When he took a job with the Pacific Powder Company in the 1950s, he thought that driving explosives around would be no different than transporting any other cargo. He drove into downtown Roseburg on August 6, 1959, and parked his cream colored truck in front of the Gerretsen Building Supply Company near the intersection of Pine and Oak.
He went back to his room at the Umpqua Hotel on Jackson Street, three blocks away, to try to sleep. But something just didn’t feel right. At around 2 in the morning, a fire broke out in the warehouse. Many went to help put the fire out. By the time someone noticed that there was a truck with the word “Explosives” painted on the side, it was too late.
The event that was later called The Roseburg Blast killed 14 people and injured over 120 others when the truck, loaded with two tons of dynamite and over four tons of ammonium nitrate, caught fire. It leveled dozens of buildings and damaged others within a thirty-block radius, breaking windows up to seven miles away. The crater at ground zero was over twenty feet deep and over fifty feet in diameter.
The incident was the greatest man-made disaster in Oregon at the time and caught the attention of a nation that was already on high alert for “A-bombs” and nuclear attacks. The tragedy was the catalyst for many changes in transport safety regulations and allowed for a major rebuilding and remodeling of downtown Roseburg. Visit the History page of this website to learn more.
Special thanks to Kent Rochester of Big Wrench Media for voicing this character. Learn more about Big Wrench Media here.
Dentist Office Dr. Brumfield
Beneath his respectable veneer was a man who thought himself above the townspeople he attended in his downtown dentist office. He thought he could get one over on "the rubes" of Roseburg, but he underestimated the county sheriff.
Dr. Brumfield was an educated, attractive dentist who had a shop on the second floor of Jackson Street in 1920s Roseburg. After having several properties mysteriously burn and collecting on their insurance monies, Dr. Brumfield went about concocting a scheme that would leave a man dead, spark a manhunt that led to Canada, involve a salacious dalliance with a hotel maid, and culminate with a series of highly emotional and intense court cases.
Dr. Brumfield, who maintained his innocence to the end, was ultimately convicted of the murder of Dennis Russell with the motive of pretending that the victim was actually himself so he could collect on a $26,000 life insurance policy. He died by suicide in his jail cell by hanging himself with a bed sheet; only one person came to his funeral.
Special thanks to Paul Bentley of Bell Sister Flats for voicing this character. Learn more about Bell Sister Flats here.
The Opera House 1920s Man
Roseburg in the 1920s was a kaleidoscope of railroad workers and businessmen, horses and model-Ts. Women wore fancy hats and flapper dresses, and men their snappy suits, especially when going to see the latest show at The Opera House. But there was a darker side to this colorful era.
The latest fashions were always on display at the Opera House, at 713 Jackson Street. This grand venue hosted a wide variety of live acts over the decades, including wrestling matches, minstrel shows, plays and operas, concerts, Chatauquas, and even Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. Outside, the people of Roseburg enjoyed parades, circuses, carnivals, sermons and political seminars; the streets where never boring.
But 1924 also saw the Ku Klux Klan come to town, and with it a darker side of deep-seated prejudice against minorities such as Catholics, Blacks and the indigent. The KKK was active in Roseburg throughout the 1920s and met in several buildings downtown, including the old Opera House.
Up until the 1950s, those with darker skin were not welcome on the streets after dark and would utilize the tunnels underground to traverse downtown. These tunnels were also used for bootlegging during Prohibition. The legends and rumors engendered during that time continue to intrigue today; will your search lead you to a new corridor, or will you arrive at a “dead end”?
Special thanks to Matthew Campbell of Widespread Haze for voicing this character. Learn about Widespread Haze here.
The Indian Theater 1950s Woman
During the first few decades of the 20th century, the four blocks of Jackson Street hosted no less than four indoor theaters. The Indian Theater was the grandest of all, and was dubbed by its owner, George Hunt, “the great Showpiece of the West.”
In the first half of the 20th century, in the evening or on a Saturday afternoon, people would go check out the latest feature — from the first silent black-and-whites to the classics of the Golden Age of Hollywood —at the Majestic, Rose, Star and Indian Theaters.
The Indian Theater, formerly called the Antlers, was known for its luxurious red velvet floor-to-ceiling drapes, hand-painted with intricate designs, that created superior acoustics. There are those in their later years who recall standing in line on the white patio, buying popcorn, and enjoying a few thrills with James Dean or Elizabeth Taylor.
Movie-going was a sensory, transporting experience for 20th century Americans who lived through the Great Depression and two World Wars. The Indian burned down in 1969, but the memories live on. Many alive today like to reminisce about the magic of those theaters in a heady time when ice cream parlors, dance halls, and plenty of shopping and entertainment made downtown Roseburg the place to be.
Special thanks to Victoria Hawks of Hawks & Co Real Estate for voicing this character.
JACKSON STREET
THE TOUR
Eagles Park Hebe Statue
Hebe, the goddess of youth, became a popular symbol of the temperance movement in the early 1900s. In Roseburg, as in many towns across the country, the citizens were divided, and so were the streets.
In 1908, when the streets were still unpaved, half of downtown (divided by Cass Street) was “wet”, and the other “dry.” Susan B. Anthony had come to town at one point, invited by Dr. Bethenia Owens-Adair, and the night of her speech, all the bars in town offered free drinks. The next day, the editor William Thompson of the Roseburg Plaindealer gave her a very disfavorable review.
Active at this time were ladies’ societies such as the ’95 Mental Culture Club of Roseburg, which was comprised of the daughters and wives of the judges, businessmen, ministers and politicians in town. They made it their mission to install a statue of Hebe and a fountain, to promote temperance, in the middle of the intersection of Cass and Main, just as the streets where being paved over and converting from dirt to asphalt.
So ignited a highly emotional controversy, a legend and a mystery — no one knows where the original Hebe is today — that lasted nearly a century, until 2007 when a new Hebe was installed at its current location in Eagles Park.
Special thanks to Wendy Weikum of UACT for voicing this character. Learn more about UACT here.
MAIN STREET
THE TOUR
Newspaper Shoot-out William "Bud" Thompson
Five years after the Civil War had ended, newspapers across the country, and especially in the more rough-and-tumble West, made no attempts to be objective in their reporting and openly displayed their politics — and their tempers.
In 1867, when Roseburg was a railroad outpost with dusty streets, wooden saloons and colorful personalities in a rapidly changing landscape, two young brothers, Thomas and Henry R. Gale, produced a blatantly Republican newspaper called the Roseburg Ensign.
When the young William “Bud” Thompson moved into town from Eugene and founded The Plaindealer, which was openly Democratic and enjoyed the financial support of the newly elected Democrat Governor of Oregon, the Gales brothers were quite perturbed. They used their newspaper as a forum for vitriol and slander, and the two newspapers went at it for months throughout the winter and spring of 1871. Colorful epithets, accusations of alcoholism, and even Shakespearean plays ensued, all in the public eye.
Words became blows when Thompson ran into Thomas Gale while on the way to the post office on Main Street, when, according to Thompson, Gale tried to draw a pistol and Thompson slapped him (other reports claim Thompson first spat in Gale’s face). Soon after, on June 11, 1871, the brothers met up again, this time at the intersection of Washington and Main.
Accounts differ depending on who is telling the story, but a shoot-out ensued, with all men receiving multiple bullet wounds. All survived, but the brothers would later die from consumption, and some say, from delayed after-effects of their injuries. No one did major jail time, and their papers lived on and later combined to form the current city paper, The News-Review.
Special thanks to Dick Baltus of AHM Brands for voicing this character. Learn more about AHM Brands here.
MAIN STREET
THE TOUR
Houses of ill-repute Mary
Brothels were an open secret in Roseburg in the 19th and 20th centuries. There were multiple so-called “bawdy houses” around town, including one on the east side of Main Street between Washington and Douglas Avenues, run by a lady named Mary.
From the beginning, these houses of ill-repute and the local “movers and shakers” in town, including county commissioners and the Mayor himself – found themselves in various sorts of mutually beneficial entanglements with these establishments.
Mayor “Al” Flegel, who was a popular mayor in the 1940s and went onto be a State Senator (his name now graces The Flegel Center, formerly the Roseburg Oregon National Guard Armory), was open about the fact that several civic improvements in town, from new Boy Scout uniforms to a new high school football field, were partially funded by money from such illicit activities. In his oral history he says, “Without that kind of dough it would have never happened, and I never feel guilty about it.”
Special thanks to Ashley Claiborne of News Radio 93.9 FM and 1240 KQEN for voicing this character. Learn more about KQEN here.
Additional Sites of Interest
Here are a few other spots you might want to see on your walk around downtown. Don't forget to support our local shops, bars, restaurants and bed and breakfasts.
City Hall
On the corner where City Hall now is, city founder Aaron Rose built a hotel to serve the miners who were travelling to the gold fields in southern Oregon. In 1858 this was called "The American Hotel", later the McClallen House. The present building was completed 100 years after the founding of Roseburg, in 1972.
Courthouse
After Roseburg became the county seat in 1854, a small courthouse was built on Courthouse Square (donated by Aaron Rose). Later, in 1868, a new one was constructed and a jail house was built to replace the original log one which had burned. The 1868 courthouse was added on to in 1891, the interior burned in 1898 and it was remodeled and served until 1929, when the nucleus of the present structure was dedicated. At one time the grounds were neatly fenced and a small bandstand occupied one corner of the lawn. Roseburg had two bands then, and the concerts filled the air with music on many a summer night.
Kohlhagen Building
At 630 SE Jackson is the Kohlhagen Building, built in 1906. Slocum's Hall in the late 1800s was located here. It was an amusement center where wedding balls, plays, operettas and political meetings were held. Kohlhagen came to Roseburg in 1892 and had his first meat market on Cass Street. He moved to this building when he had it constructed in 1906. He was a prominent businessman, a large scale stock raiser, a retailer and wholesaler of meat, turkeys, mohair and prunes, and a rancher. He rented lands in all parts of the state and was a director of the Douglas National Bank and president of a loan association. He helped a lot of people, including China Sam. The audio narration of China Sam is taken directly from an article written by George's son, Eddie Kohlhagen.
First Presbyterian Church
The Presbyterians built their first church in Roseburg on the corner of Cass and Rose, where the Grand Hotel Building is now. It was dedicated in 1876. It is now on the south end of Jackson Street, facing Eagle Park.
Chapman's Pharmacy
On the northeast corner of Jackson and Cass was Chapman's Pharmacy, formerly the Red Cross Drug Store. It was located there since the masonic building was completed in 1907, and lasted in that spot until the 1980s. Part of the basement has a dirt floor. Stenier and Chapman started the drug store in 1905, but farther north on the same block. H.D. Graves had a photography studio located here that was moved to be used as the rectory for the Episcopal Church. He has taken many historical photos that can be found at the museum.
The Parrott House
Moses Parrott opened a shoe store in April 4, 1867 along Jackson Street. The house he built in 1891 in south Roseburg still stands as one of Roseburg's historical landmarks. The entire family was active in Roseburg for decades and you can find their gravesites at the International Odd Fellows Cemetery on Douglas Avenue.
Sheridan Brothers Building
On the northwest corner of Jackson and Oak is a brick building that is nearly like it was when it was first built in 1878, by the Sheridan Brothers. A new front has been added, and a small addition to the back, which was taken off in 1981 when the over park was constructed. The original street was about four feet lower so you had to walk down to it. If you look on the south outside wall, you will see the original iron window and door shutters. IN 1889 the Sheridan Brothers constructed three more brick buildings adjacent to it.
Roseburg Elks Lodge
The Roseburg Lodge $326 B.P.O.E. was organized January 7, 1896 with 57 members. By 1905 the Lodge had 300 members. Construction on the building began in 1905 with John Hunter of Roseburg as the general contractor. Lumber was sawn at John Hunter's mill in the Bohemia area east of Cottage Grove. The structure was completed at a cost of $14,925. Hand-painted murals in decorated many rooms. The lodge was furnished with oaken chairs and tables at a cost of $22,000. The ground floor of the Elks Lodge was used for the Oregon National Guard Armory from 1905 until 1912 when the present Armory was built at the corner of Oak and Kane Streets. In the 1930s and 40s the building was connected to the Indian Theater, an adjacent structure to the north, by an open balcony. The Indian was Roseburg's most distinguished theater at the time.
Masonic Temple
In 1909 the newly-constructed building was furnished in solid oak furniture "in the golden oak style", manufactured by J.T. Flook Co. of Roseburg. The Masonic Temple is in good condition and retains its integrity. The lodge was established on December 22, 1855, under the sponsorship of Salem Lodge #4 AF AM and was chartered approximately two years later. The lodge first met in a building on the southwest corner of Douglas and Kane Streets. From that time until 1909, when the present temple was built, the lodge met at various buildings, including the Roseburg Academy. In 1952 the lodge purchased
the 2-story storefront that abuts the temple on the north. Membership of this historic lodge has included many notable Roseburg citizens.
1910
2022
How Roseburg Came to Be
Roseburg was incorporated in 1872, a year that also saw the arrival of the Oregon and California Railroad in Roseburg.
Writing in 1884, A.G. Walling said of Roseburg: "There are, taken altogether seven general mercantile houses, two hardware stores, each having a tin shop attached, two flouring mills, three hotels, one bank, three blacksmith shops, two drug stores, four variety stores, two jewelers, three millinery shops, two butcher shops, two livery stables, two cabinet shops, three grocery stores, two restaurants, twelve saloons, two barber shops, two bakeries, six physicians, two dentists, ten lawyers, one foundry, one brewery, one photograph gallery, two shoe-maker shops, one marble cutter, and several wash houses. The above is not a bad record of business for a city containing but one thousand inhabitants, all told."
Facts at a glance
POPULATION: 23,683
FOUNDED: 1851
INCORPORATED: 1872
ELEVATION: 500 ft
COUNTY: Douglas
PLACES TO VISIT
Roseburg Visitor's Center
Kick off your stay in Roseburg and the Umpqua Valley with a visit to the Experience Roseburg Visitor Center. We're located in the heart of downtown at Kane & Oak – right next to the U.S. Post Office. Find themed itineraries, dining suggestions, and a one-stop-shop for unique Roseburg apparel and souvenirs.
Open Monday through Friday, noon to five pm | Experienceroseburg.com/plan/visitor-center/
Floed-Lane House
The Lane House is located at 544 S.E. Douglas Ave., in Roseburg, Oregon. This house has served as headquarters of the Douglas County Historical Society since 1959, when the great granddaughter of General Lane deeded it to the society. Lane House contains many historical artifacts and is open to the public during limited hours and by appointment for free tours.
Open Sundays 1 to 4 pm | Floed-Lane House
Douglas County Museum
Learn about the history of the Umpqua Valley, from prehistoric times to the pioneer days.
Open Tuesday to Saturday 10 am to 5 pm | Douglas County Museum
The Parrott House
Bell Sister Flats
The Rast House
Hokansen's
HOW IT STARTED
ABOUT
ABOUT THE TOUR
A passion for history
While pondering the beauty of the second story of the old Opera House at 713 Jackson Street, I started thinking how sad it was the Roseburg's history was unknown to so many of its residents. So began a journey to uncover the stories of the past, and to share them with locals and visitors and inspire a greater sense of pride in its history.
I am primarily indebted to Britton Weaver, who created the first walking tour of downtown Roseburg for his fourth grade students at Hucrest Elementary. His typewritten historical tour was held at the Floed-Lane House, which is run by the Douglas County Historical Society, for almost four decades.
The tour is in the process of being updated with the help of his widow, Mary Weaver, who supplied me with many of Britton's historical documents and photos of Roseburg that he had lovingly and painstakingly collected over the years.
Thank you to the City of Roseburg, who partially funded this tour with a grant which helped it to come to life. Thank you to the Douglas County Museum for supplying photos and additional information. Thank you to the Douglas County Historical Society for allowing me to look at the original walking tour and also to scan and share pages of the Umpqua Trapper. Thank you to the sponsors who supported this tour and are eager to share the history of their buildings and their wonderful services and wares with you.
And thank you for exploring the city's past and present, while creating a radiant future.
1910
2022
TOUR SPONSORS
STAR SPONSORS
LEGACY SPONSORS
ROSEBURG IN 1883
GENERAL STORES
MILLINERY SHOPS
PHYSICIANS
SALOONS
LAWYERS
MEAT MARKETS
HOTELS
DRUG STORES
HARDWARE STORES
VARIETY STORES
LIVERY STABLES
FLOURING MILLS
Street Names
Named for Stephen A. Douglas, the man who debated Abraham Lincoln and was a very strong supporter of Oregon becoming a territory. He was in the Congress of the United States. This street was called Deer Creek Wagon Road in 1888.
Named for Stephen Fowler Chadwick who served as the fifth Governor of Oregon from 1877 to 1878.
Named for John Rast, a brewer and miller who came to Oregon in 1853.
Named for the founder of Oregon, Aaron Rose.
Leads to the courthouse, and was at one time called Spring Street, as the spring which supplied water to the brewery that was located where the courthouse now stands.
Named for President Andrew Jackson.
Named for President George Washington.
Named for the many oak trees that used to line the streets of Roseburg.
Named for Lewis Cass, a cabinet member in Washington.
Named for General Joseph Lane, the first Territorial Governor of Oregon.
Named for Colonel LaFayette Mosher, a Roseburg lawyer who married Joseph Lane's daughter.
Originally the Main Street of Roseburg until they moved it to Jackson Street.
Watch a Video
Produced by Experience Roseburg
