About Us In 1948 a group of citizens concerned with keeping the history of the Applegate Trail and the Rogue Valley alive founded the Josephine County Historical Society. Interest in establishing a Josephine County Historical Society was renewed in 1959, Oregon's Centennial year. Then on August 15, 1960 in the historic Masonic Hall in Kerby the first annual meeting was held. In May of 1960, the...