Sherwood Historical Society Column: History research tells a story

By June Reynolds

SHERWOOD, Ore. — The Heritage Center gets all sorts of requests. and one of our most recent deals with rural route numbers which were the mainstay of how we got our mail from 1900 until about 2002. The rural routes are now all but gone and yet people ask about the route numbers on certain roads to get their bearings after being gone for so long. Beside the route numbers, the names of the roads and streets are also significant and I could write a whole book on that alone.

As settlers came to our area, the Middleton Post office was a pony express station. This was established on Oct. 8, 1869. By 1889, Mr. Smock was running a post office out of his first store of Smockville. Then the official Sherwood post office moved to Railroad Street and Mr. Fitch took over. At this point in time, with the population tripling, it was time for a new organization of mailmen delivering mail out to the countryside and locals getting mail from a post office box at their front door or at the office. That original box in the post office of many Route One people is now in the basement of the Morback House museum.

The surrounding nine-square blocks where people got their mail was “Route One.” This kept being expanded. In 1914, the Post Office moved to the Carlson and Serk furniture annex, across from the tracks and the other side of Railroad Street. The postmaster was M.M. Fitch. According to Marion (Meinecke) McTimmonds, the routes were:

Route Carrier Dates Area of Route

#1 Floyd Jones Sherwood Proper

#2 Chet Tooze            1913-1944 Parrett Mountain   

#3 Albert Meinecke    1924-1945 Chehalem Mountain

#4 Charles Young Pleasant Hill

Albert Meinecke     1945-1957

There were times when the carriers also changed routes, or even did substitute routes.  Chet Tooze did more than his share of the east Mountains. Albert Meinecke got tired of the treacherous Chehalem Mountain route, especially in the winter, and jumped to Route 4. Mr. Atrops also was a mail carrier and an amateur photographer.  

To give you a better idea of the rural routes, I also did a survey through Facebook to match names of roads with the route numbers. Credit goes to the fifty-five people who responded: their names will be in the bibliography of the addendum book. This could be handy for the many generations of folks who used to live in Sherwood and new people might look for their area and see historic names.

Route Names of roads and streets

#1 Oregon Street

Graham’s Ferry Road

Murdock Road

#2 Murdock Road, past Sunset Road

Baker Road

Ladd Hill Road

The Village of Middleton

#3 Chapman Road

Brookman Road

Kruger Road

The community of Mt. Home to Yamhill Co. border

Brown Rd, Off Baker

#4 Lebeau Rd.

Capone Rd.

Edy Road

#5 (This route came on later on in the 1930s) Labrouse Road and Middleton Road

The old-time Civic Organizations exhibit is still ongoing through the fall. Summer fun is fast approaching with many events.

• Music on the Green is Wednesdays, July 8 through Aug. 5, 6:30-8:30, at Stella Olsen Park. Volunteers are still needed, call (503) 862 7603.
• Explore Sherwood is for kids to meet and learn about drama, history, and reenactment. Morning and afternoon sessions, Tuesday, July 14, at the museum.
• Robin Hood Festival, Sat. July 18, Noon to 4:00 pm. Open House at the Museum.
• Cruisin’ Sherwood, Sat. Aug. 8, 10:00 am to 4:00 p.m. Open House at the Museum.

Come visit us at the Sherwood Heritage Center and Museum, at the corner of First and Main in Old Town on Wednesdays and Saturdays, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.