Jackson County is a county in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 census, the population was 203,206. The county seat is Medford. The county is named for Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States.Jackson County comprises the Medford, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area.There are 11 incorporated cities and 34 unincorporated communities in Jackson County; the largest is Medford, which has been the county seat since 1927.HistoryModoc, Shasta, Takelma, Latgawa, and Umpqua Indian tribes are all native to the region of present Jackson County. In the early 1850s, both the Klickitats from the north and the Deschutes from the south raided and settled the area.The Territorial Legislature created Jackson County on January 12, 1852, from the southwestern portion of Lane County and the unorganized area south of Douglas and Umpqua Counties. It included lands which now lie in Coos, Curry, Josephine, Klamath and Lake Counties. Gold discoveries in the Illinois River valley and the Rogue River valley near Jacksonville in 1852, and the completion of a wagon road connecting the county with California to the south and Douglas County to the north led to an influx of non-native settlers.
