Best Web Design in Medford, OR (2026)

Web Design for Medford, Oregon

Medford is the largest city in Southern Oregon and the seat of Jackson County, set in the Rogue Valley between the Cascade and Siskiyou ranges. Founded in 1884 as a railroad depot and named for Medford, Massachusetts, it grew into a pear-shipping and lumber hub. It is the worldwide home of gourmet gift company Harry & David and Fortune 500 auto retailer Lithia Motors.

AppWT works with Medford, OR businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About Medford

Also known as. Pear Blossom City. Heart of the Rogue (city motto).

History. Named in 1883 by David Loring, a civil engineer and right-of-way agent for the Oregon and California Railroad, after Medford, Massachusetts, near his Concord, Massachusetts hometown. Founded in 1884 as a depot on the Oregon and California Railroad; the first train arrived January 18, 1884, and the city incorporated February 24, 1885. The railroad bypassed the older gold-rush town of Jacksonville about five miles west, hastening Jacksonville's decline; Medford became the Jackson County seat in 1927. An Interstate 5 viaduct, 3,229 feet long, was built directly through downtown Medford in 1967.

Local economy. Known worldwide for its pear orchards; Harry & David, grown from the Bear Creek Orchards, is the largest direct fruit-and-food gift marketer in the U.S. and the top employer, with about 1,700 year-round and roughly 6,700 seasonal workers. Lithia Motors, a Fortune 500 company and one of the largest U.S. auto retailers, has been headquartered in Medford since 1970. Healthcare is the largest regional employment sector; Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center and Providence Medford Medical Center together employ more than 2,000. Historic economic mainstays are timber and lumber, pears, and tourism.

Culture and community. The annual Pear Blossom Festival and Pear Blossom Run each spring, with the run ending at Alba Park followed by an all-day fair. The Craterian Theater at the Collier Center, restored in 1997 and renamed the 'Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater' after Ginger Rogers, who danced on its stage in 1926 at age 14. The Rogue Valley Growers & Crafters Market held downtown on Thursday mornings. Sports include the Medford Rogues collegiate wood-bat baseball team at Harry & David Field and the Rogue Valley Royals junior hockey team. The surrounding Rogue Valley is a noted wine and craft-beverage region.

What makes Medford distinct. Medford was a documented 'sundown town' between World War II and the 1960s, where African Americans faced restrictions. It sits in a rain shadow between the Cascade and Siskiyou ranges; winter temperature inversions trap dense valley fog that can cut visibility to less than five feet. It has been a sister city with Alba, Italy since 1960, with biennial student exchanges. There is no passenger rail service; the nearest Amtrak connection requires a roughly 2.5-hour bus ride to Klamath Falls, and the nearest seaport, Coos Bay, is 167 miles away. The city has hit 115 F (46 C) twice, on July 20, 1946 and June 28, 2021, and averages about 61 afternoons over 90 F each year.

Medford Landmarks and Local Life

• Roxy Ann Peak - an approximately 30-million-year-old, 3,576-foot mountain on the city's east side, topped by Prescott Park (1,740 acres)
• Medford Carnegie Library - a 1911 Carnegie-funded building now housing the Children's Museum of Southern Oregon
• Alba Park - the city's oldest park, established in 1888
• Bear Creek Park (nearly 100 acres) and the Bear Creek Greenway trail.
• The Table Rocks (Upper and Lower Table Rock) - volcanic plateaus rising over the valley north of the city