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History · Crescent Lake

Half of Crescent Lake’s homes were built after 1982

Most of Crescent Lake was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1963 on.

0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Crescent Lake’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Crescent Lake’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Crescent Lake’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Crescent Lake’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCrescent lake: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Crescent Lake came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Crescent Lake.

Read it all →

The community of Crescent Lake was originally located along the Southern Pacific Railroad line, 2 miles (3.2 km) south by southwest of the current Crescent Lake Junction. The former site was built after the completion of a section of railroad in 1923 (opened in 1926) called the Natron Cutoff, in the Cascade Range. This section superseded the route through the Siskiyou Mountains for trains traveling between the Willamette Valley and California. The community of Crescent Lake was built to service the steam trains that operated on the line until the 1950s and to maintain the track and signals over the adjacent section of the main line.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Crescent Lake, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1990s1 item
Crescent lake1999Crescent lake
Today2 recent
Crescent lake2009Crescent lakeCrescent Lake Junction, Oregon2008Crescent Lake Junction, Oregon
On the map

Crescent Lake on the map, 1963 to 1981

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Crescent Lake. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Crescent Lake on the 1963 USGS mapCrescent Lake on the 1981 USGS map1963Odell Lake sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Crescent Lake.

Questions about Crescent Lake’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

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Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.