Goshen is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Lane County,

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, United States. It is located at the junction of

Oregon Route 58 Oregon Route 58 (OR 58), also known as the Willamette Highway No. 18 (see Oregon highways and routes), is a state highway in the U.S. state of Oregon. The route, signed east–west, runs in a southeast–northwest direction, connecting U.S ...

Oregon Route 99 Oregon Route 99 is a state highway that runs between the southern border of Oregon, and the city of Junction City. Oregon Route 99 was formed from parts of the former U.S. Route 99; it shares much of its route with I-5, but much of it is al ...

, and

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...

History

In 1853, there was

stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

stop at what is now Goshen, on the stage line that led from

Oregon City Oregon City is the county seat of Clackamas County, Oregon, United States, located on the Willamette River near the southern limits of the Portland metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 37,572. Established in 1829 ...

to the gold country in

Jacksonville Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

. The Goshen area was settled in the 1870s. Goshen post office was established in September 1874, with John Handsaker as first postmaster. In the Bible, Goshen was the pastoral land in lower Egypt occupied by the Israelites before the Exodus. An author for the ''Lane County Historian'' wrote that Goshen was named by John Jacob Hampton, although ''Oregon: End of the Trail'' says that it was named by

Elijah Bristow Elijah Bristow (1788–1872) was the first white settler to stake a claim and build a permanent cabin in 1846, in the upper Willamette Valley, in what is now Lane County, Oregon, United States. He and his wife, Susannah Gabbert Bristow establishe ...

. Bristow saw the area as a "land of promise." The post office was discontinued in 1957, when it became an Independent Rural Station of

Eugene Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Gene Eugene, stage name of Canadian born actor, record producer, engineer, composer and musi ...

. In 1884, Goshen was a station on the

Oregon and California Railroad The Oregon and California Railroad was formed from the Oregon Central Railroad when it was the first to operate a stretch south of Portland in 1869. This qualified the railroad for land grants in California, whereupon the name of the railroad ...

(later the Siskiyou Line of the

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names ...

, and today the Central Oregon and Pacific), and the town had a store,

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

shop, and a school. In 1940 Goshen had a population of 93. The Methodist Episcopal Church of Goshen was built in 1910; as of 1990 it was a private residence. It is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. The Andrew J. Keeney House, built circa 1870, is also in the Goshen area.

Economy

Goshen is the site of a Cone Lumber Company

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

. At one time the community had a truckstop and a café. The truckstop and café were torn down in 1999 and replaced with a Pacific Pride commercial filling station.

Education

Goshen School, which served grades K–8 in the Springfield School District, was closed in June 2011. It now houses the Willamette Leadership Academy, a charter school serving students in grades 6-12.

References

External links

Historic images of Goshen
from the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

digital archives Unincorporated communities in Lane County, Oregon 1874 establishments in Oregon Populated places established in 1874 Unincorporated communities in Oregon {{LaneCountyOR-geo-stub