South Oregon News

Wonderful White City

I recently had the pleasure of visiting White City and its wonderful library. I’ll admit, before the visit I knew very little about White City or the surrounding area, but let me tell you, researching for this post, I learned a lot!  

For one thing, there used to be a WWII military base called Camp White, which had over 1,300 buildings on the site, and at its peak had 40,000 enlisted men and women on the base! The town of White city is named for this base, and all that remains now is the White City VA Rehabilitation Center and Clinics. For more information on the history of Camp White, you can check out this site. 

Another cool thing about White City is that it is just two miles from the Agate Desert Preserve. This nature preserve, now under the guardianship of the Southern Oregon Land Conservancy (SOLC), is home to vernal pools, the endangered and federally protected fairy shrimp, and other endangered or protected species of flowers and native grasses. It was named the agate desert because of the abundance of agates, petrified wood, and jasper that can be found there. Back in the day, this unique ecosystem comprised over 33,000 acres stretching from Central point, White City, and Eagle Point; now only 20% of it remains. SOLC is working hard to bring it back to its original, native state. For more information on the Agate desert preserve visit https://www.landconserve.org/agate-desert. 

With all this new and exciting information about the history and surrounding area, I couldn’t wait to visit the library itself! On the day of my visit, I was lucky enough to meet all the current staff and learn what a talented and creative bunch of folks they are. One of the very first things I noticed when I walked in was the charming window art.  

Original source can be found here