Last week’s Help Us Out from the City Archives took the difficulty up a notch from previous mysteries; it took until the relatively late hour of 9:22am before it was identified. Bonus points to Jim for correctly identifying the Zeta Psi building. We have very little to go on today, other than that it seems to be an Oregon National Guard building being constructed sometime around 1910. Your mission: find out where this building was (or is). Good luck!
(City of Portland Archives)
Thanks to VP fan Ryan for sending this super color postcard showing a rainy night on SW Broadway in the 1950s. This view is south from Washington Street and while the signage has changed drastically, the buildings on the west side are all pretty much intact today.
(Ryan)
Vanport City wasn’t the only flood worry in 1948 (see yesterday’s post). City crews seen here were busy sandbagging along Portland’s west side sea wall two days before the Vanport disaster. Downtown was spared but some areas on both sides of the river weren’t so lucky. Here’s what it looked like a little downriver at the Broadway Bridge.
(City of Portland Archives)
It was 64 years ago today that a railroad berm at the western end of Vanport City gave way under a heavy spring snow melt runoff allowing waters from Smith Lake and the Columbia River to inundate the area. This photo shows the aftermath of the devastation from roughly the same position as this earlier Vintage Portland entry.
(City of Portland Archives)
This 1958 image shows NE Broadway looking west from 15th Avenue. This was two years before Lloyd Center opened nearby; it probably would have been a primary shopping area at the time.
(City of Portland Archives)
The City of Portland Archives provided this photo enlisting your help in finding the identity and location of this building. The photo comes from the Portland Fire Bureau and is dated circa 1930. It’s a fine example of Portland’s early inventory of cast-iron architecture that obviously didn’t survive. This is a tough one as there is very little to go on and this does not appear to be one of the better known cast-iron buildings. I have my own theory, let’s see what you come up with. Enjoy and good luck!
(City of Portland Archives)
The First Presbyterian Church has been on the southwest corner of SW 12th and Alder since 1887. Its south side, hidden for many years by the Danmoore Hotel (at left), is now completely exposed since the hotel was demolished in 2005. We gained a view on the south but street-side trees maturing since this 1967 photo tend to obscure the magnificent east and north facades.
(University of Oregon Libraries)
