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)
The 1883 Smith & Watson Building on the northeast corner of SW 1st & Main was one of the last cast-iron-fronted buildings to be demolished in Portland. VP fan Bud Holland was lucky enough to have taken these photos of the building shortly before its demise. And we’re lucky that Bud has passed these on for us all to enjoy.
(Bud Holland)
The newly constructed World Trade Center 1 looms in the background behind The Old Main Tavern at SW 1st Avenue & Main Street in 1975. Neither the Old Main nor the cast-iron building to the left would survive the next few years. Read more about the Old Main Tavern at this previous VP post.
(University of Oregon Libraries)
The lovely old Congress Hotel stood on the northeast corner of SW 6th and Main from its completion in 1912 until it was demolished in 1977. This undated photo is probably 1973-77 era (I think the white car is a 1973 Mercury Comet). Four terracotta arches from the old hotel still frame the entrance to an underground restaurant on that corner.
(University of Oregon Libraries)
After yesterday’s post, I’m going to agree with Edmund’s determination that this was the Henry Jagger Corbett house on SW Park and Main. We had earlier seen this house as the Henry Ladd Corbett house, so the middle name is still a question. Roxanne sent in today’s photo as corroborating evidence. Yesterday’s photo would be looking southeast at the back of the home. Today’s photo shows it looking southwest with the Park Avenue front of the home on the left. The Elliot R. Corbett house shared the same block. Thanks again, Roxanne, and to Edmund for the positive ID. One more mystery solved!
(Roxanne Cummings)
World Trade Center 1 is under construction between SW 1st and 2nd Avenues, Salmon and Taylor Streets. WTC3 is a little further along in its construction at far right and land is cleared to begin WTC2 beyond that. Under the billboard in the foreground sat the Old Main Tavern. It suffered a fire in October 1977 and the whole block would be demolished to be replaced by One Main Place.
Apparently the Old Main Tavern was quite a legendary watering hole. From The Oregonian, July 22, 1977, “…according to Old Main Tavern manager Mike Booth, a ghost which haunts the upstairs of the historic watering hole will have to float elsewhere after the 99-year-old building is razed. His establishment has been a tavern since 1927, he said, but at one time was a house of ill repute. According to legend, a woman was murdered there and her ghost still seeks the killer, opening locked doors and flinging pots and pans through the air.”
(City of Portland Archives)
The Hamilton Hotel opened in 1913 as the Venable Hotel and was located on SW 3rd Avenue and Main Street. It was demolished shortly after this photo and replaced by the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse. It can be seen in the background of this 1935 photo.
(Library of Congress)
