Today’s post is a followup to yesterday with more information on the Guild’s Lake Courts shipyard worker housing. This photo looks slightly to the left of yesterday’s image and gives good detail about the back yards of these units. No oil tanks are in evidence and it looks like those wooden bins are for coal storage. The accompanying map shows that these units were along NW Tunis St., just west of NW 35th Avenue (our view is to the east). The detail shows the floor plans of the Type “F” buildings in this area.
(City of Portland Archives)
Tags: Kaiser Shipyards, Oregon, Portland, Vanport, WWII Housing
February 7, 2013 at 6:47 am
Definitely a coal bin to the left by the clothes line. Great history lessons, Thanks !
February 7, 2013 at 7:01 am
I think the old train station building is still standing at 35th and Saint Helen’s Rd, I was told that it was used by the those who worked in the ship yards. it is real close to this spot anyway.
February 7, 2013 at 7:26 am
I love how their front yards are absolutely immaculate (as if no one lives there) and their backyards are covered in stuff. Also, interesting that these buildings had so many 3-BR apartments. You don’t see many 3-BR in buildings like these anymore.
February 7, 2013 at 9:37 am
Here is a great aerial view of the area.
http://vintageportland.wordpress.com/2010/04/16/guilds-lake-circa-1952/
February 7, 2013 at 9:44 am
I wonder if the reason the front yards are so clean is that they had rules about keeping the front yard clean.
February 7, 2013 at 9:53 am
From a history of the court ” Some specifics:
— No central heat. A coal-burning space heater sat
in the middle of the living room.
— Cooking was done on a two-burner woodburning
stove. A small oven was below the firebox.
The stove likely measured 18 inches wide and stood
counter high.
— An icebox provided refrigeration. It was a fourdoor
with ice kept in the top left cabinet. One of the
amenities of the project was the fact that we never
had to empty the drain pan beneath the icebox. Since
the project was build on sand and silt dredged from
the Willamette River, a rubber tube ran directly from
the base of the pan through a hole in the floor and the
water drained into the sand under the house.
February 7, 2013 at 9:58 am
More from a person who lived in the court ” —Two other perks: The Portland Housing Authority
that managed the project for the Federal Government
-2-
delivered free ice twice a week. Trucks would come
down the street and deliver 25-pound blocks of ice
to each apartment. And coal for heating was also
free. There was a coal bin, measuring 4 feet x 4 feet
by 4 feet next to each apartment’s kitchen door. Coal
trucks would come by on a regular basis to keep the
bins full.
— There were no cabinets in the kitchen. The
kitchen sink was open plumbing. The small counter
was made up of 1-inch planks over a 2×4 frame. It
may have had a linoleum-like surface on it but I can’t
remember. The cupboards above the counter were
open-faced 1×8 shelving.
— The floors were made of sanded fir. They were
not hardwood. I can’t remember if we tried to cover
them with linoleum. I remember they were hard to
keep clean.
— Walls between the apartments were thin and not
insulated. We were able to talk to our neighbors
through the walls without raising our voices.
— We did have an electric water heater—the only
“modern” amenity in sight. But it was small and slow
to replenish.
— No screens on any of the doors or windows. In
the summer that was a pain. We needed to keep the
windows open for air circulation. But that meant
being constantly bothered by mosquitoes and flies. I
learned to sleep at night with a sheet covering everything
on my face except my mouth for breathing.
February 7, 2013 at 10:08 am
A very ordinary looking photo with such interesting stories behind it.
February 7, 2013 at 12:09 pm
The likely reason the front yards appear to be “clean” is that they were freshly seeded as the several string fences suggest. The baseball bat to the contrary not withstanding of coarse. Mosquitoes were the bane of all Portland summers in those golden years before DDT and vector control and this area ( NW) was especially cursed by geography with the nearness of all that stagnate water and the sheltering west hills cutting off the refreshing westerly zephyrs enjoyed by the remainder of the city. Every household in western Oregon was equipped with at least one hand pumped “Flit” sprayer as a defense and the folks residing in this neighborhood likely had one in every room.
February 7, 2013 at 12:10 pm
A while I posted a link to the 1943 Portland Improvement study carried out by Robert Moses. One interesting detail in it is basic demographic information for 137k wartime workers, specifically a map of the nation showing which state they came to Portland from. I’m linking this again here as it may be of interest in connection with these posts about Guild’s Lake.
February 7, 2013 at 2:47 pm
I remember aerial spraying for mosquitoes in the early sixties.
February 7, 2013 at 6:55 pm
Speaking of DDT, this was out 4 years after this picture was taken..
http://archive.org/details/DoomsdayForPests
February 7, 2013 at 9:35 pm
If you go to historicphotoarchive.net and search for guilds you will get several arial photos of this area from the 1950′s as it changes from housing to industrial
February 7, 2013 at 11:37 pm
Is this the train station referred to by Dennis above? This building is near St. Helens & Doane. http://goo.gl/maps/pfLgZ