This Portland Fire Department hose wagon is decorated for the 1908 Rose Festival.
Engine 13 hose wagon decorated for Rose Festival, 1908: A2001-083
View this image in Efiles by clicking here.
Rose Festival, 1908
Vintage Portland
This Portland Fire Department hose wagon is decorated for the 1908 Rose Festival.
Engine 13 hose wagon decorated for Rose Festival, 1908: A2001-083
View this image in Efiles by clicking here.
Vintage Portland 
Does anyone know where “The Grand” building behind them once stood? It has a tag as “waterfront” but it is on a bit of a grade.
From the 1908 city directory:
http://lovejoypettygrove.com lists 354 Washington as today’s 736 SW Washington St. which would place this near the SE corner of SW Park and Washington.
I have to admit that I wouldn’t have guessed the building was a 1,500 seat theater, but clearly in 1908, “The Grand” referred to that venue. From the 1908 Morning Oregonian:
Love that smooth, pot-hole free street. Note what 100+ years of progress (??) by our
City of Portland street maintenance department has done.
The way the sunlight and shade are falling makes it appear the house is facing south instead of north as it would at 736 SW Wash. Could it be a different “Grand” (a rooming house?) or maybe something on Grand Avenue?
“Grand, The – lodgings, 45 1/2 3d N”
1906 Polk’s directory. No way that is a theatre.
Current address is 111 NW 3rd St.
wooops – that should be 1896 Polk’s…
fits the style of the building.
it almost looks like there might be something after the D over the door, but nothing comes up as GRANDE.
“Grand, The – lodgings, 45 1/2 3d N”
Yeah, that makes much more sense. I had looked under “Hotels” in various places but I didn’t run across that.
“it almost looks like there might be something after the D over the door”
I had assumed that was an old-style period, as in “GRAND.”
Portlandmaps indicates 111 NW 3rd was subsumed by 310 NW Davis. Still, could be elsewhere…….
Thank you everyone for all of the feedback. It seems like that is a pretty good slope for Washington, 3rd or Grand (my first thought). The man in front seems to be almost correcting his stance to the incline.The engine must have its brake on or I don’t think the horses would look so relaxed too. I’m stumped. Thoughts?
111 SW 3rd and higher are located within the boundaries of the Sinnott House and Simon Building facades that currently inhabit that space. Both buildings, built by F.B. Simon predate 1896 (Sinnott House was 1883 and Simon Building was 1892). It’s possible that the Grand mentioned at 45 1/2 3rd N was the then current name of one of these buildings (or lodgings on the upper floor of one of them – hence the 1/2).
We know the house either faces East or South. It is old enough to have had a gas lantern over the door at one time.
If that is an address under the name, one of my kids thinks it says “3 ? 1” but we just can’t get enough image trickery to make it out. No luck trying to see Fire Station numbers on his hat badge.
Streets were often filled and regraded numerous times (I have city files indicating mine was regraded at least 5 times in as many years), so perhaps the street there now is flat, making our current views misleading.
What was the building next to the Sinnott (105 NW 3rd, now just a facade?) If it was a fire station, that would keep NW 3rd in the running. Otherwise, we need more info… like, was that stretch even semi-residential by 1908, or was it all commercial? What station is the engine from? Anyone recognize their Grandma up on the engine?
wl,
The facade next to the Sinott building was the 1892 Simon Building. I don’t believe it was ever a fire station. I have more info in my previous comment above.
Thanks for helping with at least the process of elimination.
Yeah, NW 3rd is out. This was in efiles:
Mayor (Archival) – Baker, George Luis – Subject Files – Hotel license – The Grand Rooming House
Notes
Application for hotel license, related correspondence and police reports. Subject : Licenses Organization : Department of Public Safety ; Bureau of Police Personal Name : Thatcher, Harvey A ; Mills, C H
Record Date
12/09/1918
Container
Record Number
AF/7774
Kinda late, but maybe they were renewing? Nothing online; it would have to be checked in person at City Archives.
Hilarious – I never even looked at the efile title of the photo. Engine 13 was at 261 Grand Ave; perhaps the photo is taken near the station. That would jibe with my kids seeing 3 digits in the house number, and the name. Salmon Street has a bit of a slope down to the river, but the house would then be on south side of Salmon. Does the summer sun rise far enough north to get that sun angle?
I do not know what, but the verticals in this photo are all messed up. I suspect it begins with the posture of the fireman. Could this gentleman have suffered from a left leg longer than then his right. If you tilt the photo slightly to the left then all of a sudden the buildings no longer appear to lean. The horses are now on flat ground and the legs of the two male figures behind the horses assume a more natural stance.Find a straight line on the building front and lay a ruler on it. You will see that the building appears to lean to the photos right. Some kind of illusion has occurred here, possibly accidentally by who ever printed this photo who was not the original photographer. Those old glass plate cameras with their wonderful depth of field could really trick the eyes and there is also the possibility that the original was a stereoscopic view and what we see here was printed (reproduced) from just one side of a stereopticon image. A common practice by the way.
I will subside now and look forward to being called crazy and completely agree that I am in advance and thus plead insanity.
Also note the below grade entrance shown on the building next. A sure sign of the street level having been raised.
The half shadowed horse is from a large building across the street. Or just a narrow street. I feel like the houses are facing east about 10 or 11AM for June. Almost to the southern end of a block, somewhere.
1923 Polk lists a Grand Av Hotel at 334 Grand (could that be proprietess Mrs. Ollie Duzan upstairs?), the Grand Ave Cash Grocery at 324 ( unlikely), The Grand Oak at 66 1/2, and the Grand Union at 387 1/2 E. Burnside. Even without an inclined street, if the building has an even address the sun is from the wrong angle. So either 1)not on Grand 2) on a side street or 3) went out of business between 08 and 23 and isn’t in that list. Burnside addy is on north side of street, coming down from bridge, so meets sun and slope criteria…
The grand theater I found was once the Corday and was advertised as being brick and steel in construction and was at 3rd and Yamhill.
I checked the Sanborns for an assumed ‘near the fire station’ locale, and got nothing that jumped out at me. 1908-09 Vol 4, maps 425 – 428. There are three dwellings on Grand and Salmon, but they didn’t look right.
I like this picture. The horses have a net over them, is this something for the blanket of roses to latch onto? Maybe they are getting ready to join the parade. It looks like every one about ready to go.
Here is a guess.
This is an ad in the Feb 2, 1908 Oregonian, page 7.
“THE GRAND. Two blocks from Portland Hotel. 387 Yamhill st newly furnished throughout, new management: first-class accommodations: hot water heat baths and phones: moderate prices.”
387 Yamhill works out to between 9th and 10th streets. This would put the house on the north side of the street. There is a slope between 9th and 10th on Yamhill street. The Grand ads stop in Sep 30, 1908. Modern Millinery resides at this address starting in March of 1909.
Bingo, oldoregon! Sheet 109 of Sanborn 1908-09 Vol 2 shows 387 as having a bay window at right; next door at 385 is another hotel with a bay window on left front… and 391 is a house set a short distance from 387 from a yard.
Seems to meet all criteria…
Gotta hand it to my kid and his sharp eyes, too; he saw “3?1” as the address, which was pretty close to 387! Will have to have him look at more of these photos for me…
You guys rock as the kids would say.