Myrtle Creek
Douglas County, 97457
Where Nature is your Neighbor
If this town has a claim to fame it is the myrtle wood trees which line the creeks in the area. The beautiful white myrtle wood is turned and carved into every form imaginable that a tourist might buy. Allen (your host) was raised here after being imported from Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and survived. This was logging country after world war II, but like so many other places the loggers just stripped the forests without much thought for tomorrow. In the 60's and 70's the mills died. When I-5 came through the engineers chose to put the freeway on the opposite side of the river. That was in the 1950's and the population was about 1800 people. With a population now of about 3100 the town shows some signs of life. It is still hard to find a job there, but the town boasts a new golf course and a very nice downtown park on the site of the old plywood mill. Main street is a classic American strip with a couple of pretty good antique stores. The chamber of commerce has a very nice video of Myrtle Creek. It almost makes me want to move back. Ed Cadman recently sent me some photos of the demolition of the Myrtle Creek High School gym in 2007. Also I lifted a few historical photos of the 1950's from Facebook. They are included.