Oregon Historical Society.

Medford, Oregon, pioneered aviation in Southern Oregon and has long enjoyed a reputation for being an air-minded city. When the City of Medford built Newell Barber Field in 1920, it established the first municipally owned airfield in the state. In 1926, Pacific Air Transport selected Medford as a station for the West Coast airmail route. While Portland's airmail service was located across the river at Vancouver's Pearson Field in Washington, Medford's...