This panorama of Portland from above Goose Hollow was probably taken at the same time as this photo, but today’s shows a view more to the north. The large building at upper right is the old Portland High School at SW 14th and Morrison. I believe the open field at the very left edge center is about where PGE Park is today. 18th and Jefferson is at the very lower right.
(City of Portland Archives)
October 18, 2010 at 7:40 am
My grandmother was born in Portland in 1892. It’s amazing that this was the city she saw as a child. She lived until ’78 so she saw a lot of changes to the city. (She also witnessed the advent of the airplane & landing on the moon in her lifetime.)
October 18, 2010 at 11:45 am
PGE park was built in the natural bowl of the Tanner Creek gulch, which runs right to left through the middle of this photo. On the left side, just above the “x-marks-the-spot” field, you can see the roofs of some shacks on the edge of the gulch, where the Multnomah Athletic Club is today. Those shacks housed Chinese farmers who grew vegetables in the bottomland of the creek. Just to the right of that is the bridge where 18th Ave. crossed the gulch, near today’s King’s Hill MAX station. The wooded area to the right of the bridge is now the Lincoln High athletic field.
I’m always fascinated by this neighborhood because almost all traces of the gulch are gone, but you can still find hints of the original land contours if you know where to look. (Another similar example of this is Brooklyn Creek north of the Ross Island Bridge.)
October 18, 2010 at 6:02 pm
I wonder if that stand of tree’s on the far right was the west edge of the old Kamm estate?
October 19, 2010 at 6:11 am
Apparently from the two photos, it appears that, unlike other burgeoning cities of the frontier, of Portland’s largest and tallest buildings; all were not commerce centers or Christian churches, but also a grand house of higher education and a Jewish synagogue. It makes me wonder what the Portland culture at this time was like compared to other western cities.
November 26, 2010 at 4:14 am
Are you sure this is 1894? First Presbyterian Church should be visible a block up from Portland High School…
November 26, 2010 at 9:37 am
Mike,
Given the angle of the photo, I believe FPC, at 12th and Alder may be partially obscured by Portland High. If so, FPC’s magnificent steeple could be hidden behind one of the school’s towers.