Building Oregon
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Work provided by University of Oregon

Ashland Municipal Powerhouse (Ashland, Oregon)

Alternative Title
  • Reeder Gulch Power Plant (Ashland, Oregon)
Creator Display
  • R. I. Stuart
  • Kelsey, Frank C. (engineer)
Creator
Photographer
Date
  • 1909
Description
  • National Register of Historic Places (Listed, 2000)
  • A Bungalow style building, the oldest municipal powerhouse in Oregon was built in 1909 and represents the long struggle between the city and a private power company to control hydroelectric power service to the community. In 1889, two years after railroads joined north and south rails, Ashland became the first Jackson County town to have electric power. It also pioneered in power production by building the Ashland Municipal Powerhouse. At first, power was provided by a private company. Then in 1908, the city council engaged Portland engineer Frank C. Kelsey to survey Ashland Canyon to estimate its power capacity and work was begun, but not without controversy because the private operator brought an injunction suit against the city to halt construction. [photograph] Historic image of the Ashland Municipal Powerhouse, from 1909 Courtesy of The Terry Skibby Collection Several years of struggle between municipal and private sources ensued, with the city continuing to buy California electricity. A second phase of development in the canyon began in 1928 when Hosler Dam was constructed about 4000 feet upstream and Reeder Reservoir, a new water impoundment facility, also was built. Power generation was suspended for three years in 1968, but before scrapping the project, studies on restoring the plant indicated its feasibility; restoration was completed in 1985. Ashland is now one of two cities in Oregon that generates its own power. Standing on its original site, the powerhouse is significant as tangible evidence of the relentless effort of Ashland's city government to eliminate its major competitor and control power generation and distribution. Source: National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/ashland/amp.htm
View
  • exterior
Temporal
  • 1900-1909
MODS Note
  • Frank C. Kelsey was born in 1862 in Kentucky and came West to work on railroad building jobs as a young man. 'He settled in Salt Lake City, Utah and eventually became city engineer and chairman of the board of public works. In 1904 Mr. Kelsey entered private practice in Portland, Oregon and supervised construction of water works, irrigation systems, and power and pumping plants throughout the Northwest. He was the designer and chief engineer of the Nisqually power plant at Tacoma, and chief engineer of the Kittitas reclamation district in Washington. In 1916 Mr. Kelsey moved to New York and joined the Washington Pipe and Foundry Company, manufacturers of wood stave pipe for power lines, sewers and water supply systems. In 1925 the company's name was changed to the Continental Pipe Manufacturing Company and Mr. Kelsey became its president. Frank Kelsey died in his apartment at the Hotel Peter Stuyvesant in New York City on January 5, 1933. Source: National Register nomination.
Subject
Work Type
Style / Period
Location
Street Address
  • 1400 Granite Street
GPS Latitude
  • 42.1636529
GPS Longitude
  • -122.7175497
Material
  • stone, log, shingle, wood
Identifier
  • pna_94001x.tiff
Source
  • Oregon Historic Sites Database
Institution
Submission Date
  • 05/04/2015
Modified
  • 07/24/2022
Collections

APA

Building Oregon, University of Oregon. (19 Apr 2024). Ashland Municipal Powerhouse (Ashland, Oregon) Retrieved from https://oregondigital.org/concern/images/df67rr830

MLA

Building Oregon, University of Oregon. "Ashland Municipal Powerhouse (Ashland, Oregon)" Oregon Digital. 19 Apr 2024. https://oregondigital.org/concern/images/df67rr830

Chicago

Building Oregon, University of Oregon. "Ashland Municipal Powerhouse (Ashland, Oregon)" Oregon Digital. Accessed 2024-04-19. https://oregondigital.org/concern/images/df67rr830

Wiki

{{cite web | url= https://oregondigital.org/concern/images/df67rr830 | title= Ashland Municipal Powerhouse (Ashland, Oregon) |author= |accessdate= 2024-04-19 |publisher= }}
Data Sources
Footer Number Term External URI
1 Stuart, R. I. http://opaquenamespace.org/ns/creator/StuartRI
2 Kelsey, Frank C. http://opaquenamespace.org/ns/creator/KelseyFrankC
3 Atwood, Kay http://opaquenamespace.org/ns/creator/AtwoodKay
4 Architecture, American http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85006700
5 Architecture--United States http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85006693
6 power plants http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300000414
7 exterior views http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300124515
8 views (visual works) http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300015424
9 built works http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300265418
10 architecture (object genre) http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300263552
11 industrial buildings http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300006231
12 Rustic (European style) http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300018229
13 Oregon >> United States https://sws.geonames.org/5744337/
14 Jackson County >> Oregon >> United States https://sws.geonames.org/5733351/
15 United States https://sws.geonames.org/6252001/
16 Ashland >> Jackson County >> Oregon >> United States https://sws.geonames.org/5711789/
17 University of Oregon http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n80126183

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