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Photo from Mail Tribune files Consultant George Kramer helped Ashland win recognition for its historic Railroad District. On track for historic status Ashland's Railroad District just a formality from national register By PETER WONG SALEM -- Ashland's Railroad District is one step away from becoming the newest and largest historic district in Southern Oregon. But Friday's nomination by the State Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation makes its listing later this year by the National Park Service a formality. "As far as Oregon is concerned, today's action means that it's already on the national register," said George Kramer of Ashland, a historic preservation consultant who helped the city prepare its report to the state. The Railroad District will be the first for Ashland on the National Register of Historic Places. Medford has three such districts -- downtown, South Oakdale Avenue and Geneva-Minnesota -- and Grants Pass also has a downtown historic district. Jacksonville, which has about the same number of properties as the Ashland district, has a separate status as a national historic landmark. Ashland's 117-acre district contains 382 properties, about 60 percent of which were built between 1883 and 1927 and are considered "primary contributors" to its historic character. The Oregon and California Railroad came to Ashland in 1884, and in 1927, the Natron Cutoff allowed railroad traffic to bypass the Rogue Valley. Like a similar historic district in Roseburg, Ashland's district housed railroad workers and businesses dependent on railroad traffic. The district remained largely intact, but began a gradual decline, after the railroad bypassed Ashland and the automobile shifted the focal point of the community back to Main Street and the downtown plaza. A neighborhood movement two decades ago saved two houses threatened with demolition and spurred the area's revitalization. "It forms a true neighborhood, both visually and as a community," Kramer said. He was the only speaker Friday at the meeting of the state advisory committee, which also reviewed Ashland's proposal last fall. Kramer said Friday's action enables owners of qualifying properties to apply now for a couple of tax breaks. Owners of 267 properties classified as primary or secondary contributors to the district's historic character can submit plans for building restoration or maintenance. Once the State Historic Preservation Office certifies them, the owners can qualify for a 15-year state freeze on taxable values of their property. (State law does not freeze tax rates or bill amounts, but it limits annual growth of most property values to 3 percent.) Just 11 of those properties have national historic status now. Owners of commercial buildings with certified rehabilitation plans can obtain credits of up to 20 percent, subtracted directly from federal income taxes owed. Buildings are eligible for national historic status only if they are at least 50 years old. Another Ashland historic-district nomination will be forwarded to the state committee later this year. Kramer is preparing a city nomination for about 110 properties within a proposed downtown district, generally bound by Church Street on the north, Gresham Street on the south, Main Street and Lithia Way. The City Council will consider that nomination this summer. In related business, the state committee also recommended to the National Park Service that it should list the Rand Ranger Station on Galice Road in Josephine County on the national register. The station was built as a project of the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930s. It was acquired in 1970 by the Medford District of the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the wild and scenic corridor of the Rogue River. "BLM does not have a lot of historic properties," said Kate Winthrop, Medford District archaeologist. Kay Atwood of Ashland, who prepared the nomination for BLM, said there are Forest Service ranger stations in Gold Beach and Powers on the national register. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA