Lake Creek, Oregon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lake Creek, Oregon
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Welcome to Lake Creek, Oregon
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 Lake Creek, Oregon
Location in Oregon
Lake Creek, Oregon
Location in the United States
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| Country | United States |
| State | Oregon |
| County | Jackson |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
| ZIP code |
97524
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| Area code(s) | 458 and 541 |
Lake Creek is a small, unincorporated community in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. It's located about 20 miles (32 km) east of Medford. The community gets its name from Lake Creek, which is an important local stream.
This stream joins Little Butte Creek right at Lake Creek. Little Butte Creek itself is formed by two smaller streams, its north and south forks, just upstream from the community. Near Lake Creek, you can find the shortest covered bridge in Oregon. This bridge is along Lost Creek, which flows into the South Fork of Little Butte Creek. The Lost Creek Bridge is a very special place. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and might even be the oldest standing covered bridge in Oregon!
Contents
The Story of Lake Creek's Name
The Lake Creek post office first opened on December 10, 1886. Back then, the Post Office Department often didn't like names with two separate words for post offices. So, when they applied for the post office on September 17, 1886, the name was officially written as "Lakecreek" (one word).
Even after the post office closed on June 5, 1959, this official one-word name stayed. However, people in the area always used the two-word name, "Lake Creek." All mail that used to go to the "Lakecreek" post office was then sent to the Eagle Point office. The building that housed the post office in Lake Creek also had a general store. This store is still there today! It closed for a while for renovations, but it reopened its doors on July 24, 2009.
In June 2007, a person from Medford, Oregon, named Brian Zablocky, asked the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) to change the official name back to the two-word local usage. The BGN agreed to this request on September 27, 2007, and the change became official a few days later.
Pioneer Hall: A Community Gathering Place
The Lake Creek Pioneer Hall was created in 1990. It's located in what used to be the Community Hall building. A group of local people, some of whom also helped fix up the nearby Lost Creek Bridge, worked together to restore this building. They added a new foundation, put in insulation, and built a kitchen. It's now a great place for community events!
Gallery
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Lake Creek Grange
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General Store and Old Post Office
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Lake Creek Cafe
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Lake Creek Fire District
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Plaque on the Station
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Old fire truck
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Lake Creek Falls
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Climate in Lake Creek
The Lake Creek area has a special kind of weather. Summers are warm but not too hot, and they are also very dry. The average monthly temperature never goes above 71.6 °F (22 °C). According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Lake Creek has what is called a warm-summer Mediterranean climate. This is often shown as "Csb" on climate maps.
