Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Near West Selma Selma, OR

Selma is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Josephine County, Oregon, in the valley of Deer Creek, a west-flowing tributary of the Illinois River and part of the Rogue River watershed.

The 2020 census counted 661 residents in the Selma CDP, down from 695 in 2010.

Originally known as Anderson, the community was renamed Selma in 1897 to remember Selma, Iowa, the hometown of Miriam Churchill.

U.S. Route 199 passes through the center of town, leading south 8 miles to Cave Junction and northeast 20 miles to Grants Pass, the county seat.

The Selma CDP covers about 6.5 square miles, all of it land, at an elevation of 1,325 feet.

Selma is listed with ZIP code 97538.

When the state bypassed old Hogue Drive in the early 1960s and built a wider bridge over Deer Creek, it gave easier access to Lake Selmac, dedicated in 1961.

Actor John Wayne used to visit the Deer Creek Ranch one mile west of Selma, now the Siskiyou Field Institute, after filming Rooster Cogburn along the Rogue River.

Kristy Lee Cook, who finished seventh on American Idol season 7, is from Selma.

Craig Wright, major league baseball's first sabermetrician, lived for a time as a young man in Selma while working in nearby Grants Pass.