[or-roots] Jump off Joe -- Merlin???

[Chris & Bill Strickland]

Merlin, Oregon History <http://www.webtrail.com/history/merlin.shtml#>,  
by Dennis Hotchkiss --  http://www.webtrail.com/history/merlin.shtml


The Southern Pacific Railroad established the Jump-Off Joe Station in 
the early 1880's. The name Merlin came from a railroad employee 
<http://www.webtrail.com/history/merlin.shtml#> named David Loring after 
seeing the area inhabited by pigeon hawks also known as merlins. Mr. 
Loring's imagination is also responsible for naming several other towns 
as well, including the city of Medford. Postmaster Lanterman changed the 
name of the post office to Merlin on March 21, 1891. Following Lanterman 
as postmaster were George A. Guild, followed by his daughter, Mattie. 
Ruth Lendberg was postmaster from 1930 to 1967, serving seven 
presidents. Mrs. Lendberg's little green house served as the post office 
and it still stands with flagpole on Pleasant Valley Road, just down the 
street from the present day post office.

Merlin had two school districts in 1886: the Jump Off Joe School 
District had 54 children educated at a cost of $77.00; the Louse Creek 
School District had 26 pupils with a cost of $63.00. These two districts 
combined to form Merlin School District #24 in May of 1894. There was a 
brick school house built in 1912 on the spot where the present day 
elementary school sits. A bell from an older school was placed in the 
brick building and when it was demolished in 1963, it was given to the 
Merlin Community Baptist Church where it hangs today.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/or-roots/attachments/20100219/15a897e2/attachment.html>