Wonder is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Josephine County

Josephine County, Oregon

Josephine County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. According to Oregon Geographic Names, the county is probably named after a stream in the area called Josephine Creek, which in turn is probably named after Virginia Josephine Rollins Ort. In 2010, its population was 82,713...

, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, on U.S. Route 199

U.S. Route 199

U.S. Route 199 is a U.S. highway in the U.S. states of California and Oregon. The highway was established in 1926 as a spur of U.S. Route 99, which has since been replaced by Interstate 5. US 199 stretches from U.S. Route 101 near Crescent City, California northeast to Interstate 5 in Grants...

 about 13 miles west of Grants Pass

Grants Pass, Oregon

-Rogue River:The Rogue River runs through Grants Pass.-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 23,003 people, 9,376 households, and 5,925 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 9,885 housing units at an average density of 1,303.3 per square mile . By 2008,...

 and 8 miles east of Selma

Selma, Oregon

Selma is an unincorporated community in Josephine County, Oregon, United States. It had a population of 1,934 as of 2000. It is located in the ZIP code of 97538.-Notable residents:...

. It is within the Siskiyou National Forest.

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

General store

A general store, general merchandise store, or village shop is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general...

 two miles south of Wilderville

Wilderville, Oregon

Wilderville is an unincorporated community in Josephine County, Oregon, United States. Wilderville is located along U.S. Route 199 southwest of Grants Pass. Wilderville has a post office with ZIP code 97543....

, 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.

A private airfield, Wonder Airport

Wonder Airport

Wonder Airport is a private airport located 1 mile north of Wonder in Josephine County, Oregon, USA....

, is located nearby.

External links

• Images of Wonder, Oregon from Flickr
  Flickr
  Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
  
  
• Wonder, Oregon history from Josephine County Historical Society

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