Klamath Falls on a summer day
Klamath Falls, Oregon, elevation 4,099 feet, sits at the southeast end of Upper Klamath
Lake in a high desert landscape. It has a population of 20,840 – 2010 census. Altamount, an
unincorporated community of 19,257, shares the southeast border of Klamath Falls’
city limits. The older part of the city is located above natural geothermal springs.
These have been used for the heating of homes and streets, primarily in the
downtown area. Downtown Klamath Falls is home to three entertaining and
informational history museums along with historic murals and buildings.
Klamath Falls, sitting in the rain shadow of the Cascade Mountains, features a climate
with cold snowy winters along with hot summer afternoons and cool summer nights.
Typical of its region, Klamath Falls has a dry season in summertime,
with the greatest precipitation occurring in wintertime, much of it falling as snow.
Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, serves Klamath Falls, operating its
Coast Starlight daily in both directions between Seattle, Washington
and Los Angeles, California. Crater Lake – Klamath Regional Airport,
located about six miles south of the town center, as of June 2014 has no
commercial services. At the airport is also Kingsley Field Oregon Air
National Guard Base. The 173rd Fighter Wing currently flys F-15 C/D variants.
Ross Ragland Cultural Center
The Ross Ragland Theater is a 790 seat year-round, multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary
arts center serving South Central Oregon and Northern California. The theater, with
near-perfect sight lines and acoustics, provides the perfect venue for a wide
array of touring performing artists as well as local productions.
The Ragland Cultural Center has two studios, over 1000 sq. feet each, a commercial
kitchen and walk-in cooler adjoined by an atrium and restroom facilities.
The Cultural Center has been used for weddings, holiday parties and most
recently for the Ragland Cultural Center Series performances. The theater,
studios, lobby and auditorium are available for rent.
It was a broad-based Klamath Basin community effort that renovated the 1940 Art
Deco styled Esquire Theater into the Ross Ragland Theater heralding
the rejuvenation of the Klamath Falls downtown area. Extending the city’s
geothermal line to the Ross Ragland encouraged the municipal use of
renewable energy. Most importantly, community interest in the performing arts
was revived. Today, The Ross Ragland Theater and Cultural Center serves,
educates and inspires over 100,000 individuals annually.
For entertainment updates visit RossRagland.
Oregon Institute of Technology
The present Tech campus overlooks Upper Klamath Lake on the outskirts of
Klamath Falls, and is directly adjacent to Sky Lakes Medical Center.
The fall class of 2014 had 4,218 undergraduates and 55 postgraduate students.
Oregon Institute of Technology, also known as Oregon Tech or OIT, is one of
seven Universities in the Oregon University System, and the only public institute
of technology in the Northwestern United States. Oregon Tech provides degree
programs in engineering and health technologies, management, communications,
psychology and applied sciences through hands-on learning.
Oregon Tech also earned U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges 2013 awards.
The awards included placing #10 in the West’s best regional baccalaureate
colleges, #3 for top public regional colleges, and #35 for the best
undergraduate engineering programs in the United States.
For more info on Oregon Institute of Technology.
Klamath Community College also serves the region’s educational needs.
And here we are, north and south, in the middle of things.
Over the Cascades, to the west, are Medford, Jackonsville, Ashland and Interstate 5.
There is shopping and dining in downtown’s Main Street district as well as
throughout the city and South Sixth Street areas.
Here is dining information.
Here are two sources for local event information:
Discover Klamath events and Chamber of Commerce events
©2014 Point Comfort Lodge and Anders Tomlinson, all rights reserved.