Placer, Oregon

---

title: "Placer, Oregon" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["ghost-towns-in-oregon", "populated-places-established-in-1885", "unincorporated-communities-in-josephine-county,-oregon", "1898-establishments-in-oregon", "populated-places-established-in-1898", "unincorporated-communities-in-oregon"] description: "Unincorporated community in the state of Oregon, United States" topic_path: "general/ghost-towns-in-oregon" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placer,_Oregon" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Unincorporated community in the state of Oregon, United States ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

Field	Value
name	Placer, Oregon
settlement_type	Unincorporated community
pushpin_map	Oregon#USA
pushpin_label	Placer
pushpin_label_position
subdivision_type	Country
subdivision_name	United States
subdivision_type1	State
subdivision_name1	Oregon
subdivision_type2	County
subdivision_name2	Josephine
leader_title
unit_pref	Imperial
population_as_of	2000
population_density_km2	auto
timezone	Pacific (PST)
utc_offset	-8
timezone_DST	PDT
utc_offset_DST	-7
elevation_ft	1431
coordinates
postal_code_type	ZIP codes
postal_code	97497
blank_name	FIPS code
blank1_name	GNIS feature ID
blank1_info	1125461
::

|name = Placer, Oregon |official_name = |settlement_type = Unincorporated community |nickname = |motto =

|image_skyline = |imagesize = |image_caption = |image_flag = |image_seal =

|pushpin_map = Oregon#USA |pushpin_label = Placer |pushpin_label_position = |pushpin_map_caption = |pushpin_mapsize = |image_map = |map_caption = |image_map1 = |mapsize1 = |map_caption1 =

|subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = United States |subdivision_type1 = State |subdivision_name1 = Oregon |subdivision_type2 = County |subdivision_name2 = Josephine |government_footnotes = |government_type = |leader_title = |leader_name = |leader_title1 = |leader_name1 = |established_title = |established_date =

|unit_pref = Imperial |area_footnotes = |area_magnitude = |area_total_km2 = |area_land_km2 = |area_water_km2 =

|population_as_of = 2000 |population_footnotes = |population_total = |population_density_km2 = auto

|timezone = Pacific (PST) |utc_offset = -8 |timezone_DST = PDT |utc_offset_DST = -7 |elevation_footnotes = |elevation_ft = 1431 |coordinates =

|postal_code_type = ZIP codes |postal_code = 97497 |area_code = |blank_name = FIPS code |blank_info = |blank1_name = GNIS feature ID |blank1_info = 1125461 |website = |footnotes = Placer is an unincorporated community in Josephine County, Oregon, United States, on Grave Creek a few miles east of Interstate 5. Established during the local gold mining boom, it is considered a ghost town.

History

Placer was unofficially established in 1885 as "Tom East" and platted in 1898 by pioneer landowner L. M. Browning, who had arrived in the area in 1870. Tom East was an early southwest Oregon miner, who came to the U.S. from England as a young man.

The first post office at this locale was applied for in 1893 by Newell Fillmore Inman with the name Tom East, but the Post Office Department changed the name to "Placer". Placer was named for the placer mines in the area. Placer post office ran from 1894 to 1924, with mail then going to Leland.

Placer was established as a supply center for the Tom East and Upper Grave Creek mines and was on the stagecoach line between New Leland and the Greenback Mine. In its heyday, Placer had two large hotels, two large mercantiles and three saloons—the only ones on Upper Grave Creek—as well as other small businesses, including a newspaper edited by Nellie Anderson. Placer grew rapidly with the development of the Columbia placer mine and the Greenback quartz mine, which was the richest mine in Oregon by feet of tunnel mined.

References

References

1. McArthur, Lewis A.. (2003). "[[Oregon Geographic Names]]". [[Oregon Historical Society Press]].
2. Weis, Norman D. (1971). "Ghost Towns of the Northwest". [[Caxton Press (United States).
3. McLane, Larry. "Placer, Oregon History". Josephine County Historical Society.
4. Atwood, Kay. (1978). "Illahe: The Story of Settlement in the Rogue River Canyon". [[Oregon State University Press]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::