What looks like a swath of tornado damage in the lower center of this 1964 image actually shows the beginning of demolition for the Stadium Freeway (I-405). Many more blocks will fall to the wrecker as the freeway turns north and cuts between SW 13th and 14th on its route to Northwest Portland. For orientation, we’re looking northwest with the diagonal SW Broadway between Lincoln and Grant Streets at the very bottom.
(City of Portland Archives)
Tags: Freeway Construction, Historic Photo, I-405, Oregon, Portland, Stadium Freeway
February 27, 2012 at 8:59 am
Wonderful photo!
I’m focusing on the Montgomery Ward area.
Is that the Forestry Building that burned in 1964?
What are the two largish buildings just below?
And is that the old St. Vincent’s Hospital a little to the left?
February 27, 2012 at 9:39 am
I think that is Chapman School just below Ward’s. And that has to be St. Vincent clinging to the hillside just beyond that bare bluff.
Great picture!
February 27, 2012 at 9:58 am
I spy the Log Cabin next to Wards! I went to Chapman school also!
February 27, 2012 at 10:27 am
That is St. Vincent’s Hospital. My mother gave birth to her 10 kids there. The Panorama Apartments looks like it’s halfway finished on Burnside and St. Clair.
Really great photo, Dan!
February 27, 2012 at 11:57 am
I count thirteen blocks in this picture that are in the process of demolition. Compared with current Googlemap view, it looks like the southernmost block and a half of the South Park Blocks was also taken out after this photo was produced.
http://g.co/maps/wxpaf
February 27, 2012 at 11:38 pm
Wow. I can’t wait to see it on a big monitor tomorrow. The entire first half of my life was spent somewhere within that picture.
February 29, 2012 at 7:25 pm
This really lets you appreciate how abruptly the city grid had to contend with the topography – and lost!
February 29, 2012 at 11:20 pm
I’ve been looking for a photo like this for the last 20 years!! Thanks, Vintage PDX!!
March 1, 2012 at 12:31 am
Excellent photo!!! Thank you! Although I feel saddened by the slicing up of the city thanks to freeway development on both sides of the river. My family and I went to the United Methodist Church that is smack dab in the middle of this shot. The Kamm House was moved to a lot near the church parking lot. There was also a structure there that was a replica of Lincoln’s cabin or something like that. Now gone. Vague memory. Notice Shattuck Elementary School, which today is now about 1 block north of I405. Can someone tell me what’s happening on that chunk of hill (looks like sluicing) behind what is now Westover Ave? I know it’s not the Vista Ridge Tunnels. Can’t quite figure it out.
March 3, 2012 at 9:41 am
Surprised to see how many empty lots there are in the hills south of where I-405 went in. I thought all the homes in that area were built earlier but I guess not.
March 6, 2012 at 1:34 pm
@jharold – what makes you think it’s not Vista Ridge? They opened in 1969, so it seems like about the right time and place.
March 6, 2012 at 2:18 pm
@tad – It’s in the wrong place for the tunnel. The hill he’s talking about is up by NW Westover (the street seen running off at an angle). You can see the shopping center on NW 23rd Pl between Burnside and Westover is right below it. The excavated hillside is just above NW 24th Pl and is today the location of the Hilltop Condominiums at Uptown.
March 6, 2012 at 2:37 pm
As for the tunnel location, you can see the blocks being cleared for US 26 mostly between Market and Mill. You can see the circle at 18th and Columbia and two blocks south is Market. The row of blocks south of that have largely been cleared (there’s a large white building that looks gutted with no roof on that row of blocks). The tunnel entrance is just behind ( south of, and slightly west of) the three buildings which are visible just before the base of the hill where Market St. angles off into Market Dr going up the hill (the three are on the SW corner of 18th and Market and still there today).
March 26, 2012 at 6:28 pm
I’ve been looking for a picture of the old Joan of Arc house that I lived in when I was going to beauty school in 1957. If you have that I would love to print it. mjb@aol.com
March 27, 2012 at 7:10 am
Mary Jane, is this link the place you’re asking about?
http://vintageportland.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/marabba-west-apartments-1977/