Portland’s Municipal Auditorium was built in 1917 facing SW 3rd between Clay and Market. Known over the years as Portland Municipal Auditorium and Portland Public Auditorium, it was extensively remodeled in 1968 and renamed Portland Civic Auditorium. In 2000 it was renamed Keller Auditorium. This 1958 view is south on SW 3rd at Clay.
(University of Oregon Libraries)
Portland pioneer Reverend Clinton Kelly built this fine home for his son-in-law and daughter, Captain and Mrs. John W. Kern, on top of Powell Hill in 1892. By 1947, the old Queen Anne-style mansion on SE Powell between 29th and 30th Streets was empty and isolated as the hill around it was removed to level the area. Two years later the house was pulled to the ground. Read the article accompanying this photo here, and read a feature-length 1948 article about the house, and the Kelly and Kern families, here. Thanks to VP fan Edmund Veith for supplying these articles.
(The Oregonian. Retrieved from http://infoweb.newsbank.com)
Yesterday’s water-level view of the Sellwood Bridge showed quite a bit of industrial development on the east shore. This 1948 photo shows that area from the air. It appears most of the large buildings to the north of the bridge had been removed by 1948. The photo also shows the flooded Oaks Amusement Park area and Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood.
Efforts are underway to secure funding to replace the Sellwood Bridge spanning the Willamette River. This is how it looked shortly after it opened in December, 1925. The eastern shore was highly industrialized at that time.
(City of Portland Archives)
There’s been a Firestone shop on the north side of W Burnside between Park and 9th for decades. Although this building is gone, Firestone tires are still sold out of a smaller store and parking lot on the site. The Benson Garage sign partially visible on the far left is a still visible ghost sign on the neighboring building.
(City of Portland Archives)
I missed this morning’s VP posting because I was in Seattle with my wife as she was interviewed on KING5’s NewDayNW program. Jerilyn wrote a book specifically aimed at military children to help them cope with problems arising from a parent’s deployment. It was a fantastic interview. Please take a look!
Vintage Portland will return bright and early Tuesday.
Sullivan’s Gulch was at one time a river bed, then a route for trains, and now the I-84 freeway also follows its path. For a few years part of Lloyd Golf Course lay in it bed. Most of the course was atop the south bank of Sullivan’s Gulch (up the slope on the right) but a couple of the holes, including this green under construction, were down in the gulch itself. This view is east from about 15th.
(City of Portland Archives)
