Snow, trolley tracks and road apples, plus the occasional car, all presented challenges to pedestrians on SW 5th and Washington in 1907. The 1906 Swetland Building is dead ahead on the southeast corner. We’re looking south here.
(City of Portland Archives)
Fourth Street, now SW 4th Avenue, looked impressively wide in this 1907 image looking south through Stark Street. Pantages Theater was on the southwest corner and the extant 1898 Oregon Pacific Building can be seen another block down on the right. The tall building on the immediate left is the Chamber of Commerce building.
(City of Portland Archives)
The 1864 Multnomah County Courthouse is shown here probably around the turn of the 20th century. The dome towered over the city at 106 feet tall. It was demolished in 1910 as the new and extant courthouse was built on the same site. This photo looks northwest at the corner of SW 4th and Main Street.
(University of Oregon Libraries)
Portland loved waffles over a century ago as this early turn-of-the-century photo indicates. This building was originally the “Old Crosby House,” built in 1848 or 1849, the first frame residence in Portland. It was located on the east side of SW 4th Avenue between Yamhill and Taylor.
(University of Oregon Libraries)
It was a very busy day in 1905 when the streets and sidewalks were crowded with pedestrians and a few vehicles. This view is west on SW Washington St. at 3rd Avenue. The Dekum Building is a familiar sight on the left and the Oregon Pacific Building another block west still stands.
(City of Portland Archives)
The Steel Bridge Saloon was at 269 Crosby on the northwest corner of Holladay and Crosby at the east end of the old, original Steel Bridge. This would put it very close to the Interstate/Rose Quarter Max station today. According to a 1921 item in The Oregonian, Mr. Henrich saved $3500 when “yeggmen” failed to breach the inner compartment of his safe in a robbery attempt.
(City of Portland Archives)
Nothing remains of the magnificent home of Drs. Henry and Viola Coe, built on the northwest corner of NW 25th & Lovejoy. He owned and operated the Morningside Hospital and was very active in business and politics. He commissioned and donated four statues that still stand in Portland, most notably the golden Joan of Arc in Laurelhurst. Dr. Viola Coe was “was an ardent worker for woman suffrage” according to her 1943 Oregon Journal obituary. She was acting president of the Equal Suffrage Association when Oregon women achieved the right to vote in 1912, substituting for an ill Abigail Scott Duniway. Thanks to Ed Teague at University of Oregon Libraries for the suggestion.
(University of Oregon Libraries)
