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C−History
History · Phoenix

Phoenix’s post office opened in 1857, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 22% of U.S. towns · #97 of 142 in Oregon. What drives it

Most of Phoenix was built recently: 0.4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Its Register listing is the Patrick F. McManus House. Its Register listing is the Patrick F. McManus House. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1954 on, and the census since 1880.

1857first post office
1on the National Register
0.4%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Phoenix’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Phoenix began

When was Phoenix founded?

1857

The Phoenix post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1910.

First census: 277 in 18802020 census: 4,475169 years

How historic is Phoenix?

C−

More historic than 22% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Phoenix post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1910.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Phoenix’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Phoenix is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns, #97 of 142 in Oregon. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Phoenix’s overall grade.
Founding era1857, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19400.4% of homes (±0.8) · typical OR town 5.3% · U.S. 8.4%DNational Register1 listing, 2.3 per 10,000 residents · typical OR town 2.9 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 22%
NewerOlder
Oregon towns of 2,500+ (142)Ahead of 32%

Oregon towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Oregon town has 2.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Phoenix’s 2.3 sits near the middle of its state (45% of Oregon towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C. The pre-1940 share (±0.8 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1910.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Phoenix’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.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1880 and 1920, then grew more than tenfold.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Phoenix’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewHiram Colver House, Pacific Highway: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Phoenix, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,00018801900192019401960198020002020277 in 1880Low: 159

Lost a third of its people between 1880 and 1920, then grew more than tenfold.

13 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Phoenix’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Phoenix came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Phoenix.

Read it all →

The area was settled c. 1850 by brothers Hiram and Samuel Colver. Samuel Colver laid out the town in 1854. Early residents included Milton Lindley, who operated a sawmill that provided timbers in 1855, for a blockhouse as well as a flouring mill owned by Sylvester M. Wait. For a time, the settlement was known locally as Gasburg after a talkative employee in the kitchen serving the mill hands. Wait, who was an agent for the Phoenix Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut, assigned the official name, Phoenix, to the community and, in 1857, to its post office. Waitsburg, Washington, was later named after Wait.

Chapters2020 fire

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Phoenix, 1857 to 2010

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1857Post officeThe Phoenix post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1984Born hereTami Farrell is born here
  6. 21st century
  7. 2010CensusPopulation peaks at 4,538
By decade

Phoenix, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Hiram Colver House, Pacific HighwayDate?Hiram Colver House, Pacific Highway
Today11 recent
Sign for the Royal Oaks Mobil (sic) Manor, a trailer park2018Sign for the Royal Oaks Mobil (sic) Manor, a trailer …Peach crates await the fruit from adjacent peach trees2018Peach crates await the fruit from adjacent peach treesMario-Andretti-Oregon-20172017Mario-Andretti-Oregon-2017PhoenixOregonSnowExit24Interstate52015PhoenixOregonSnowExit24Interstate5Bicycling construction superintendents2014Bicycling construction superintendentsBear Creek Greenway users on temporary crossingBikeronConstructionpath2014Bear Creek Greenway users on temporary crossingBikero…Phoenix City Hall2013Phoenix City HallPhoenixOregonShoppingCentrSign2012PhoenixOregonShoppingCentrSignGasstationimage2012GasstationimageFlickr - brewbooks - Marcel Le Piniec Nursery in2010Flickr - brewbooks - Marcel Le Piniec Nursery inBear Creek Greenway 012003Bear Creek Greenway 01
On the map

Phoenix on the map, 1954 to 1983

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

Phoenix on the 1954 USGS mapPhoenix on the 1974 USGS mapPhoenix on the 1983 USGS map1954Medford sheet · 1:62,500

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

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Hiram Colver House, Pacific Highway
Retake this viewHiram Colver House, Pacific Highway

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Phoenix’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Phoenix

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1978
Patrick F. McManus House
Patrick F. McManus House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Classical Revival1
Patrick F. McManus HouseClassical Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Phoenix’s post office has been open since 1857.

Gone or out of use
Camp Stuartmilitary
1cemetery inside Phoenix
Phoenix

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Medford43 historic placesB

Questions about Phoenix’s history

What year was Phoenix founded?

The Phoenix post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1910.

How does Phoenix rank for history?

Phoenix is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns, #97 of 142 in Oregon. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Phoenix?

One place: the Patrick F. McManus House (listed 1978).

How old are the homes in Phoenix?

0.4% of Phoenix’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 5.3% for an Oregon town; the median home was built in 1994.

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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).

From Wikimedia Commons (9), the Library of Congress (3), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) 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.