Wonder 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 ...

Josephine County Josephine County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 88,090. The county seat is Grants Pass. The county is named after Virginia Josephine Rollins (1834–1912), a settler who was t ...

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 The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, on

U.S. Route 199 U.S. Route 199 (US 199) is a U.S. Highway in the states of California and Oregon. The highway was established in 1926 as a spur of US 99, which has since been replaced by Interstate 5 (I-5). US 199 stretches from US 101 near ...

about 13 miles west of

Grants Pass Grants Pass is a city in and the county seat of Josephine County, Oregon, United States. The city is located on Interstate 5 in Oregon, Interstate 5, northwest of Medford, Oregon, Medford, along the Rogue River (Oregon), Rogue River. The populatio ...

and 8 miles east of Selma. It is within the

Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest A rogue is a person or entity that flouts accepted norms of behavior or strikes out on an independent and possibly destructive path. Rogue, rogues, or going rogue may also refer to: Companies * Rogue Ales, a microbrewery in Newport, Oregon * ...

. The town apparently got its name in 1902 after John T. Roberson opened a

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

two miles south of Wilderville, and residents wondered how he would get enough business to make a living as the area did not have many settlers. Roberson began to call his store "Wonder Store". Wonder post office was established in 1903 and Roberson was the first postmaster. In 1915 Wonder had a population of 25, and a school that was also used as a church. As of 1916 there was a Wonder station on the California and Oregon Coast Railroad line here. Sometime in the 1920s, the community moved two miles further west up Slate Creek. The post office closed in 1959.

References

External links

Images of Wonder, Oregon
from

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Wonder, Oregon history
from Josephine County Historical Society Unincorporated communities in Josephine County, Oregon 1903 establishments in Oregon Populated places established in 1903 Unincorporated communities in Oregon {{JosephineCountyOR-geo-stub