Kerbyville Museum – Kerby, Oregon
Here we are at a town of many names, but started out as "Kerbyville" after the first homesteader; James Kerby who settled here in 1855.
The town's name was changed to NAPOLEON by the Territorial
legislature in 1856. Many stories surround the change, including a
local doctor who was an admirer of Napoleon Bonaparte' and his wife
Josephine. (Josephine County was named after Josephine Rawlins, the
daughter of the county's first white settler.) It is rumored that the
good doctor was not aware that she was the "Josephine" it was named
after. Another story was that people felt "every Josephine must have
her Napoleon." The majority however, did not like the change, and the
town reverted to Kerbyville shortly thereafter.
It is a lot smaller today and so is its' name -- "Kerby."
One of Oregon's oldest post offices is where the Kerbyville Museum is today. James Kerby was its' first postmaster.
Waldo was Josephine County's first county seat, and then
Kerbyville held the title from 1857 until 1886 when Grants Pass took
over. As with all changes back then, the coming of the railroads had
major influence over population centers and control of governing bodies.
Dennis Strayer is the man in charge of this "sleeper attraction," and
he will amaze you with his knowledge. Dennis moved to Oregon with his
parents when he was nine years old. Like so many of us who relocated to
this wondrous country; he never looked back!
Dennis is working on an exhibit to show what the town may have looked
like had the much hoped for railroad linked Kerbyville with the coast.
Due to the first World War, starting about when this project was almost
to fruition, men and materials were rapidly diverted to the war effort,
and after the war, things never went back to where they had been, so
the town never realized the potential that it would have had as a hub
between Grants Pass and the coast.
This great museum is really a super collection of history from before Oregon's statehood to present.
This gold pan has two x's painted in it which was the symbol, and flag of the "State of Jefferson."
The movement to combine Southern Oregon and Northern California into our 51st state was all but approved by the government.
The significance of the x's on the gold pan and flag were symbolic of
the movement, as both regions felt they had been "double crossed" by
their respective capitals!
The creation of Jefferson state was to be signed and ratified on
December 8th, 1941. Again, a World War had a major effect on the area.
Since one of the main reasons the secession came about was the poor
road quality in the two vast areas of Oregon and California.
During the war, the regions produced much needed metals and material
for the war effort, and the roads were then vastly improved, and the
region prospered.
The secession movement ended on December 7th with the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
If you are able, bring your grandparents with you, because you won't recognize a lot of these items.
Dennis is always here for you though, and knows everything in here.
There are incredible displays of period clothing, dolls, military
uniforms and accessories, tools and weapons dating from Oregon's
beginning to the present.
We have Civil War Veterans from both sides resting together in our cemeteries.
Taxidermists have created exciting displays of the areas' wild animals and birds.
This is a fully-working, hand-crafted scale model of an early grist mill.
Displayed here is a duplicate of the Chateau at the Oregon Caves
National Monument. I looked carefully inside, but could not see
"Elizabeth," the resident ghost. But Dennis will tell you all about
her, or for more information see
Ghosts In Southern Oregon's National Monument!
This photo is of a photograph of Josephine County's only "legal"
hanging. L.W. Melson is shown here in his final minutes. He had been
sentenced to hang even though he had professed his innocence, however at
the last minute before he dropped, he admitted guilt.
The murder weapon.
This is known as the "Oregon boot," as it was created as a prisoner
retention device. The ring weighs between 40 and 50 pounds, and was
placed around the ankle. The person's boot was then put on, and the
second part of the "Oregon boot" went around the shoe and attached to
the underside of the ring, and locked down with the two locks shown on
the top of the ring.
This was the creator of the "Oregon boot," and it really proved to be
very successful in keeping prisoners contained, as the jails in those
days needed all the help they could get.
This switchboard is the way calls came in when I was a youngster.
The operator would ask "number please?" When you gave her the number,
she physically connected your phone plug to the plug for the number you
were calling. Then came the dial phones, but I wonder how many young
people today could even use one of those?
This is a scale model of the Stith-Naucke house next door, and has
been used as a guide for the restoration project. It was raffled off on
July 10th to raise "much needed" funding, and the raffle winner was
nice enough to donate it back to the museum.
The
Kerbyville Museum has many one of a kind photos and letters.
This is George W. Colvig, who served as the U.S. Ambassador to South
America. He was very close to President William McKinley (my
great-great uncle), and when the President was assassinated by William
Czolgoz, Mr. Colvig sent a personal letter of condolence to Mrs.
McKinley. The museum has a hand-written thank you from Mrs. McKinley to
Judge Colvig.
Don't miss the barn, as it is full of more treasures!
This whiskey still was used in the Illinois Valley during prohibition.
What a classic example of a horse-drawn buggy. Somebody sure rode in style.
I'd hate to be the brunt of this "yoke!"
The old forge still works.
You're looking at the Grimmett School, which was in use from 1898 to
1906. While back in the eastern United States, people would have been
shocked to see that this was actually a school at the turn of the 20th
century! It took an awfully long time for the west to finally catch up.
Viewing an actual miner's cabin which was moved to this site. Built in 1934 on the west fork of Taylor Creek.
It is so like all of the cabins built by the miners that it is a good
representation of cabins dating back a lot further. The old saying
goes, "You could throw a cat through the wall," but this one isn't that
bad, but a cat could still go through it on its' own accord.
A replica of Bolan Mountain lookout. Many of these fire lookout
stations can be rented by the public when not in the fire season.
Some of the saw blades used by early timber fallers. They had
handles on each end, and they cut as you pulled the saw toward you, thus
a team would only have to work when they pulled the blade back, and
they just had to guide the saw as their partner pulled it.
Chinese miners left a lot of these items behind as they moved on.
Chinese were not allowed to own property or mining claims, but after the
white miners had moved on, the Chinese were allowed to work the
abandoned claims. However, if the white miners decided to come back,
the Chinese had to vacate. They were very hard working people, and had
the patience to make a good living after the greedier white miners had
left the area. The Chinese people were not protected by any laws, and
life was very difficult for them. One example was a miner shot and
killed a Chinaman, and he was fined $10 by the local judge, not for the
murder, but for firing a gun in town!
More mining equipment salvaged from history. Oregon had a number of
underground mines, where blasting was done, but the majority of gold
that we hear about was taken by hydraulic mining and placer mining.
The sluice box and gold pan are still a common sight throughout Southern Oregon.
Throughout those violent gold discovery years, the poor Takilma and
other Native American tribes suffered terribly as they had done
throughout the civilizing of North America. They seemed to always be
looked on by the white man as being "in the way."
This is your great-grandmother's Walmart.
In 1865, The Oregonian newspaper in Portland was printed once a week.
Throughout the
Kerbyville Museum are scenes like this, depicting life as it was at the time.
A memento from the "Hanging Tree" which stood just outside the door of the
Kerbyville Museum, between it and the Stith-Naucke house. Which we will be talking about in the next blog.
As we leave the
Kerbyville Museum, we notice the flag above the rock, which marks the spot where the "Hanging Tree" once stood. A fitting goodbye.
