Ash, Oregon
Ash is an unincorporated community in Douglas County, Oregon, United States, south of Loon Lake in the Southern Oregon Coast Range. The community is also referred to as Ash Valley.[1]
Ash had a post office established in 1894, named for the Ash trees in the area.[2] The first postmaster, Charles L. Parker, suggested "Ash" when the Post Office Department requested a short name.[2] The post office was closed in 1934.[2]
Ash Valley's economy is based primarily on logging and agriculture.[1] The closest town is Scottsburg, 21 miles northeast, but Ash Valley residents rely on Reedsport, 27 miles northwest on the Oregon Coast, to obtain goods and services.[1] In 1915, Ash had a cheese factory and a sawmill.[3]
During the decades of the nineteen seventies,eighties,and the nineteen nineties, the school proved a main center of attention. It recieved wide recognition as one of the foremost small schools in oregon for a solid education. This was largely dg ue to a teacher named Richard Sheldahl. The two-story school was classified as a one room school house as it had one large room on the second story that could be divided in two, and a small room and cafetiera on the first story. The bulding housed the teacher and grades 1-8. It also had a gymnasium on the campus. The district also provided a small house across the street from the school for the Teacher who also served as the Principal. The school served as a gathering place for a community church pastored by a pastor provided through the Village Missions organization. The school also was a place of controversy as residents particpated in small town politics and years of generational bitterness. Read here:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19840624&id=ZGsVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=keEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6690,5968069
The school was largely funded through taxes paid by logging compainies in the area. The Ash Valley School District had no high school. Students went to high school in the costal town of Reedsport, roughly thirty miles away. Familes usually car pooled and drove their students to and from Reedsport High School. In some cases, the Reedsport School District would supplement the car pool drivers five dollars per student to cover gas and auto matainence.
Ash Valley school was closed in 1994; students attend the public schools in Reedsport.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d "ORDER NO. 95-1324". Oregon Public Utility Commission. December 15, 1995. Retrieved February 28, 2009.
- ^ a b c McArthur, Lewis A. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (Seventh Edition ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. p. 35. ISBN 0-87595-277-1.
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External links
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/12268827.jpg
Media:Example.ogg*Image of Ash Valley School from Panoramio
43°33′09″N 123°49′14″W / 43.5525°N 123.82056°W