As originally told by George Parker, an early local historian, one day while a road crew was eating their lunch the topic of the town's name came up. One guy suggested they call the pass "Grants Pass". Apparently it stuck and over the years the apostrophe fell out of use by the locals to be used only by tourists and those unfamiliar with the city.

The first photo was taken in the 1920s and the second photo is Grants Pass today. Three things I wanna check out in Grant's Pass:

Grants Pass Pharmacy "Family-owned 1930's style pharmacy. Slide onto a stool at the old-fashioned soda fountain, which still has those little hand-pumped syrup containers and glass straw holders. Ten cents for a cup of coffee and just a quarter for a milkshake." The first photo is a photo postcard from the 1930s and the other photo is the one I took at the pharmacy. As you can see, not much has changed.

Wild West
"Old-style mercantile where you can find just about everything from seashells to Stetson hats, old-fashioned toys, food & gifts, etc."

Grants Pass Caveman
There's no missing the Caveman once you head into downtown Grants Pass. Standing almost 20 feet tall, clutching a club, and clad only in an animal skin, the statue has been the town's mascot since 1971.

Home to the Oregon Cavemen of Grants Pass, this group was formed in 1922 to boost awareness of the town and the nearby caves, this group of local businesspeople has donned shaggy animal skins to welcome such visiting dignitaries as John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. They even made international headlines during the Cold War when the Soviet press miscast them as "an anti-religious group that claims the prehistoric era is better than present conditions in the United States."

Each August the Grants Pass Caveman Days Festival brings in tourists by the thousands. The last photo is a postcard from the 1920's showing how popular dressing up during Caveman Days was back then. Looks fun!

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