Goshen is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Lane County,

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. 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. R ...

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 also ...

, and

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south 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 through the states of Californi ...

History

In 1853, there was stagecoach stop at what is now Goshen, on the stage line that led from Oregon City to the gold country in

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. 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 established ...

. 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. 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 s ...

(later the Siskiyou Line of the

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) 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 ...

, 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, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

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 United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. 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 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 (dimensi ...

. At one time the community had a tavern, 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 9–12.

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 research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

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