Like many towns, Grants Pass owes its existence and growth to the railroad. When the tracks were extended into the modest settlement 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. Grants Pass beat out Kerbyville (now Kerby) and Wilderville for the honor. The county’s first courthouse went up in Grants Pass in 1886.
The city was 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.
If the town had any one unique characteristic though the years, it was the signs built over the streets to advertise its virtues. These started as cloth signs before the turn of the century and exist as the lighted “It’s the Climate” sign today.
Visit the nearby Oregon Coast where there is whale watching, deep sea fishing, clam digging, beach combing, and award winning restaurants and pubs. Or drive the short distance to Crescent City, California and continue south through the Redwood Forest.
Live out your next 50 years in Grants Pass, the “community with heart” – host to world class fishing, golf, horseback riding, jet boats, white water sports, theaters, museums, galleries, antique shops, biking, hiking, and other outdoor activities. Enjoy great restaurants, tea houses, and more, plus the nearby Oregon coast and the Oregon Shakespeare and Britt Festivals.
Visit www.visitgrantspass.org for complete visitor information and photo gallery.
