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Inventory Form
Inventory Form
National Register Nomination

LOCATION AND PROPERTY NAME
address: 7th St historic name:Port Orford City Jail
Port Orford, Curry County current/other names:Old City Jail
assoc addresses:
block/lot/tax lot:
location descr:North side of 7th Street near Jefferson Street twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:33S 15W 5
PROPERTY CHARACTERISTICS
resource type:Building height (stories):1.0 total elig resources:1 total inelig resources:0
elig evaluation: eligible/significant NR Status: Individually Listed
prim constr date:1939 second date:1941 date indiv listed:04/29/2025
primary orig use: Correctional Institute orig use comments:
second orig use:
primary style: Utilitarian prim style comments:
secondary style: sec style comments:
primary siding: Concrete: Other/Undefined siding comments:
secondary siding: Steel
plan type: architect:
builder:
comments/notes:
Listed in the National Register on 4/29/2025
GROUPINGS / ASSOCIATIONS
Not associated with any surveys or groupings.
SHPO INFORMATION FOR THIS PROPERTY
NR date listed: 04/29/2025
ILS survey date:
RLS survey date:
Gen file date: 04/16/2024
106 Project(s): None
Special Assess Project(s): None
Federal Tax Project(s): None
ARCHITECTURAL / PROPERTY DESCRIPTION
(Includes expanded description of the building/property, setting, significant landscape features, outbuildings and alterations)
The Port Orford City Jail (built in 1939) is located among a mix of residential buildings on the north side of 7th Street, just east of Jefferson Street, one block north of Highway 101 in the city of Port Orford on the southern Oregon coast.1 Constructed of board-formed concrete, the one-story utilitarian building is a 16’ x 20’ rectangle with 9’ tall walls, all painted white. In the center of the south-facing façade is a heavy sheet steel over wood entry door. To either side of the door are open, steel-barred windows. In addition, there are two 10-1/2” wide openings cut through the rear (north) wall of the building as well as one 10” wide opening cut through the building’s east wall. These openings provide ventilation to the interior spaces. Seams and wood grain patterns, the result of the concrete forms, as well as the building’s central entry doorway and front window openings are character-defining features on the exterior of the building. The low-pitched shed style roof is covered in rolled asphalt and there is a brick chimney on the jail’s west side. On the ground near the southeast corner of the building is a small boulder with a brass marker on it identifying the City Jail and the date of 1936, the year when construction of a jail was first authorized by the City of Port Orford. The marker is a noncontributing object installed after the jail’s period of significance. Inside the building are two small cells and a booking room, with plastered concrete walls and peeling paint. Each of the cells contains the remnants of a toilet. Remnants of electrical wiring, light fixtures, a wall-mounted telephone, a sleeping cot, and one steel cell door serve as reminders of the building’s years as an active jail from 1939 to 1965. Alterations to the jail have been minimal but include the replacement of the roofing material and roof framing, as well as the window bars. The Port Orford City Jail retains sufficient integrity as a correctional facility associated with the early days of Port Orford as an incorporated city under the leadership of Mayor Gilbert E. Gable.
HISTORY
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
The Port Orford City Jail is locally significant under Criterion A in the area of Politics/Government as the last remaining building that is clearly connected to the early days of city governance that began when Port Orford incorporated in 1935. Other buildings associated with the early Port Orford city government were destroyed in a 1958 fire or damaged to the extent that all integrity was lost. As the most intact physical remnant from the early days of city governance, the Port Orford City Jail provides a tangible connection to a time when governance, including law enforcement and a correctional facility, were new and critical elements in the development of the city. The building is also of statewide significance under Criterion B in the area of Politics/Government for its relationship to the city’s first mayor, Gilbert E. Gable. Gable was the driving force behind the city’s incorporation, worked to promote the region and grow the local economy, and was also the charismatic leader of the “State of Jefferson,” a political movement born out of regional dissatisfaction with the statewide governments of Oregon and California. Because it is the last intact building in Port Orford with direct ties to Gable’s leadership, the jail provides the best example of his productive life in the city. The period of significance under both criteria begins in 1939, when the jail was constructed, and ends in 1941 with Gable’s death.
RESEARCH INFORMATION
Title Records Census Records Property Tax Records Local Histories
Sanborn Maps Biographical Sources SHPO Files Interviews
Obituaries Newspapers State Archives Historic Photographs
City Directories Building Permits State Library
Local Library: University Library:
Historical Society: Other Respository:
Bibliography:
AECOM. US 101 Coast Highway Historic Context. Portland, OR: AECOM, 2015. Aldrich, Mark. “FDR, the New Deal, and the Great Nineteen Thirties Gold Rush.” Mining History Journal, 26 (2019), 71-86. Borah, Charlie. “The Staging of Jefferson: Gilbert Gable, Stanton Delaplane, and the 1941 Jefferson Statehood Movement.” UC Santa Barbara Undergraduate Journal of History, 2:1 (2022), 22-35. Davis, W.N. Jr. “State of Jefferson.” California Historical Society Quarterly, 31:2 (1952), 125-138. LaLande, Jeff. “Gilbert Gable (1886-1941).” Oregon Encyclopedia, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/gable-gilbert/ LaLande, Jeff. “State of Jefferson.” Oregon Encyclopedia, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/state_of_jefferson/#.XSJwD5NKit8 LaLande, Jeff. “The State of Jefferson”: A Disaffected Region’s 160-Year Search for Identity.” Oregon Historical Quarterly, 118:1 (2017), 14 – 41. Laufer Peter. The Elusive State of Jefferson. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2013. Masterson, Patrick. Port Orford, A History. Wilsonville, OR: BookPartners, 1994. Nelson, Shirley. “City of Port Orford.” Oregon Encyclopedia, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/port_orford/ Rippee, Kassandra, “Historic Preservation of the Summers Family Cemetery at Battle Rock Curry County, Oregon,” SHPO Case No. 20-0254, Coquille Indian Tribe (2020). Sutton, Jack. The Mythical State of Jefferson, A Pictorial History of Early Northern California and Southern Oregon. Medford, OR: Josephine County Historical Society, 1965. United States, Interstate Commerce Commission, “Gold Coast Railroad Construction.” Interstate Commerce Commission Reports (The Commission: Washington DC), 212 (October 1935 – June 1936), 385 – 392. Newspapers Articles “Barthelmess Returns From Bermuda Visit.” Washington Times (DC), April, 21, 1922 “Blast Signals Start of Work.” Coos Bay Times, February 25, 1935. “Childhood Friends to Wed.” Evening Ledger (Philadelphia, PA), October 6, 1915. “Coast Railroad Permit Sought at ICC Hearing.” Medford Mail Tribune, October 13, 1937. “Construction Company Plans to Build 24 Homes for Workingmen.” Coos Bay Times, January 14, 1936. Coos Bay Times (OR), September 22, 1932. “Courthouse for Curry Has PWA Inspector’s OK.” Coos Bay Times, August 17, 1938. “Curry Talking ‘Secesh’ Move.” Oregonian, October 3, 1941. “Curry Threatens Secession Move to Aid Economy.” Coos Bay Times, October 3, 1941. “Developer of Port Orford Harbor Gets Best Wishes of White House.” Morning Oregonian (Portland, OR), August 16, 1935. “Fire Destroys Castaway Lodge.” The World (Coos Bay, OR), March 4, 1958. “Folks Said He Was Daffy.” Sunday Oregonian, November 13, 1938. “Gable Speaker at Port Orford Masonic Meet.” Coos Bay Times, September 13, 1934. “Gable States Case.” Sunday Oregonian, April 5, 1936. “Gilbert Gable Recounts Thrilling Adventures In Address on Thursday.” Ludington Daily News, December 7, 1932. “Gilbert Gable Will Be Rehabilitation Chieftain at Bandon.” Coos Bay Times, November 19, 1936. “Gold Coast R. R. Plans New Road.” Oregon Daily Journal (Portland, OR), December 14, 1934. “ICC Cancels Permit for Construction of Railroad to Coast.” Medford Mail Tribune, July 21, 1938. “Mayors to Ask Gasoline Funds, New Sales Tax.” Coos Bay Times, June 24, 1940. “Nearby Broadcasts.” Philadelphia Enquirer (PA), January 3, 1931. “New Expeditions Head For Dinosaur Canyon.” The Enquirer and Evening News (Battle Creek, MI), October 11, 1929. “New Jail is Being Built at Orford.” Coos Bay Times, March 21, 1939. “New Owners Get Tichenor Land.” Coos Bay Times, November 28, 1934. “Oregon County Wants to Join California.” Nashville Tennessean (Nashville, TN), October 3, 1941. “Oregon Gold Field Hardly Scratched.” Morning Oregonian, January 16, 1933. “Orford is Host to Mayors for Special Parley.” Coos Bay Times, June 21, 1940. “Phillips Halts Dinosaur Party.” Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, AZ), November 13, 1929. “Planning Boards Act To Develop Rogue Play Area.” Medford Mail Tribune, November 19, 1935. “Port Orford Blast to Be Set Off by Spark From New York City.” Oregon Daily Journal, February 24, 1935. “Port Orford Dock Construction Awarded to Portland Company.” Coos Bay Times, March 12, 1935. “Port Orford Fire Causes Big Damage.” Capital Journal (Salem, OR), August 22, 1934. “Port Orford Joins Step In March Of Progress.” Medford Mail Tribune, October 17, 1935. “Port Orford to Construct Jail.” Coos Bay Times, June 20, 1938. “Port Orford To Get Railroad.” Capital Journal, May 8, 1935. “Port Orford Will Have City Jail is Plan of City Dads.” Coos Bay Times, November 12, 1936. “Proponents of New State to Christen It ‘Jefferson.’” Oregonian, November 25, 1941. “Proposal Winner By Big Majority.” Morning Oregonian, October 17, 1935. “Publicity Attractions Aid Liberty Loan Drive.” Perry County Democrat (PA), March 27, 1918. “Queer Influence Gained Cash for Port Orford Job.” Medford Mail Tribune, January 31, 1940. “Radio Heard Mile Below Earth’s Rim.” Washington Post, November 24, 1927. “Railroad Urged From Pt. Orford To Rogue Valley.” Medford Mail Tribune, December 5, 1935. “Sale of Inman Mine Holdings Is Completed.” Coos Bay Times, May 16, 1934. “Ship Adds Drama To Dock Address.” Morning Oregonian, September 3, 1935. “That Coast Railroad.” Medford Mail Tribune (Medford, OR), June 6, 1935. “Tipsy Car Pilot Jailed for Year.” Oregon Daily Journal, April 18, 1939. “Two Concerns Seek To Build Rogue Railroad.” Capital Journal, March 24, 1937 “Vote on Port Orford Incorporation Set For Middle August.” Coos Bay Times, July 6, 1935. “Water Shortage Causes Action at Port Orford.” Coos Bay Times, August 3, 1939. “Wedding of Miss Stearns and Gilbert E. Gable Announced By Parents.” Ludington Daily News (MI), August 18, 1931. “Work Going Forward Briskly on Projects for Curry County.” Coos Bay Times, February 21, 1935.