Story Locations

Ashland Mills

Site of the murder of Dr. David Sisson — one of the earliest dark chapters of the young settlement.

Johnny Gruelle's Home, Granite St.

Home of author Johnny Gruelle, friend of spiritualist Emma Oeder and a fixture of the popular 1920s seance scene. He famously arrived in town aboard a bus painted with Raggedy Ann and Andy.

Ashland Opera House

Staged Merchant of Venice a full 25 years before the founding of OSF, followed by Much Ado About Nothing in 1909.

Chautauqua Dome

A venue for nights of boxing and stage drama alike. Boxing was the "green stage" event early on, and there was real speculation that it might become the main draw.

The Allen Elizabethan Theatre (The Old Chautauqua Walls)

In 1893, the town built a massive domed tabernacle for the Chautauqua festival, bringing culture and entertainment to the rural community. The dome was torn down in 1933, but its circular concrete foundation walls remained.

In 1935, a young college teacher named Angus Bowmer noticed the abandoned walls looked exactly like sketches of 16th-century Elizabethan theaters. He convinced the city to let him stage two Shakespeare plays there — but the skeptical city forced him to host daytime boxing matches on the stage to ensure the event wouldn't lose money. The plays were a massive hit, covering the losses of the boxing matches and giving birth to the world-renowned Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

WPA work for taking down the old Chautauqua Dome and getting new work going — the rise of OSF.

The Entrance to Lithia Park (Site of the Ashland Flouring Mill)

In 1854, the Ashland Flouring Mill was built right on Ashland Creek. It became the bustling nucleus of the town, and its walls even served as a fortress of shelter for local women and children during the Rogue River Indian Wars in 1855. When the aging mill was torn down in 1908 to make way for a city park, pioneer settlers openly wept at the loss of their most sacred landmark. Voters overwhelmingly chose to preserve the site, transforming this former industrial ground into the lush entrance of Lithia Park.

Auto-camping in Lithia Park

• July 1915: auto-camping begins, bringing year-round tourism to the city.
• Natural springs and the natural environment as the main draws.
• 1923: a 50-cents-per-car-per-day fee enforced to pay for services.
• By 1930: cabins available on site.
• Gone by 1961, but lasted quite a while.

The Enders Building (East Main Street / Railroad District)

Built in 1910 by a merchant who moved from Idaho, this structure was essentially Southern Oregon's first "shopping mall." It housed a grocery store, a hardware store, a music shop, and clothing departments, all connected by interior doors so shoppers never had to step outside. In the 1910s and 1920s, visitors would take the morning train to Ashland, shop all day inside the building, and spend the night at the Columbia Hotel located right upstairs — a hotel still in business today.

The Helman Baths (off Otis Street)

Long before Ashland was settled by Euro-Americans, local Native American tribes used this natural hot spring as a camp and a place to bathe in the warm, healing waters. In the early 1900s, it was developed into a massive indoor public bathing pool. Local kids would run up the stairs, grab trapeze-like swings dangling from the peak of the high ceiling, and launch themselves into the warm mineral water below. Though currently closed, the barn-like building still stands as a relic of Ashland's "Venice of the West" mineral spa era.

The I.O.O.F. Building (The Plaza)

In March 1879, a devastating fire swept through Ashland's commercial district, destroying all the wooden buildings on the west side of the Plaza. In the aftermath, the local Independent Order of Odd Fellows fraternity rebuilt their hall on the corner of the Plaza using sturdy local brick. Look up at the top of the building today and you can still see "I.O.O.F. 1879" proudly displayed, marking this resilient piece of local history.

15 North Main Street (The Bank of Ashland / Tree House Books)

Henry Beach Carter, a retired farmer who had already founded a bank in Elkader, Iowa, moved to Ashland and decided to duplicate his feat. He co-founded the Bank of Ashland in 1884, which operated as the only bank in town until 1909. The original 1884 bank building still sits proudly on the Plaza today, though it is now home to the beloved local bookstore, Tree House Books.