Portland Heights Panorama, 1903

This lovely 1903 image from Portland Heights encompasses Goose Hollow on the left, Union Station on the right, out to Mount St. Helens in the distance. The large white residence near the center was the Monroe Bennett Rankin home. Mr. Rankin made his fortune in the timber industry and built this fine home in 1890 on the block bounded by SW 16th and 17th Streets, Clifton and Myrtle Avenues. It’s no longer in existence and the four homes now on that block date from the late 1930s.

(Library of Congress)

Biplanes Over Portland, 1920

I don’t know why the artist felt the need to place dozens of biplanes in the skies over Portland but the planes give a rather dramatic, yet whimsical, perspective to the downtown core area of 1920.

(Library of Congress)

NE Sandy Blvd, 1947

We’re moving just a bit northeast on NE Sandy Blvd, overlapping yesterday’s post, with the intersection with 28th Avenue in the upper left corner now. Dan Faulkner commented yesterday that today’s U-Store facility was at one time the Doernbecher Furniture Manufacturing Company. This photo verifies it and gives a nice overall view of the plant, the 28th Avenue viaduct, and the surrounding neighborhood.

(City of Portland Archives)

NE Sandy Blvd & 28th, 1937

NE Sandy Blvd slashes diagonally across this 1937 photo and intersects with NE 28th Avenue in the middle. The area south of Sandy hasn’t changed a whole lot; north of Sandy has grown more commercial. 28th at that time crossed Sullivan’s Gulch and the railroad track (upper right); it now spans the I-84 freeway too.

(City of Portland Archives)

SW Columbia & 2nd, 1962

SW Columbia Street looking east to 2nd Avenue appeared borderline industrial back in 1962. The KOIN broadcasting studio on the right would move into a new high-rise tower a block to the west of this location (just to our right in this view) a couple of decades after this photo. The cornice of the Ladd Block can be seen beyond the Boyd’s coffee building on the left.

(City of Portland Archives)

Reed College, 1940

Southeast Portland’s Reed College campus is shown looking northeast in this nice 1940 aerial view. SE 28th Avenue and Woodstock Blvd. meet in the lower left corner. Those look like tents to the north of the campus; anyone have any idea what those could be?

(City of Portland Archives)

N. Lombard & Fiske, 1944

Wide streets and tidy neighborhood shops are hallmarks of the stretch of N. Lombard Street where N. Fiske Avenue crosses in the University Park area of North Portland. This 1944 view is to the southeast and the dense trees of Columbia Park can be seen a few blocks down on the left.

(City of Portland Archives)