This 1938 aerial image of downtown shows an artist’s rendering along the west side waterfront. It was probably used as a device to envision placement of Harbor Drive. This particular version left intact the Portland Public Market building on the right.
(City of Portland Archives)
Another amazing photo from the City of Portland Archives shows the inner Southwest and Northwest Portland in 1933. The west ends of the Steel, Burnside and Morrison bridges are along the top and we can see west to about Broadway. The riverfront had been tamed with the construction of the seawall but old Portland was essentially untouched at this point and almost no buildings had been razed for surface parking lots yet.
(City of Portland Archives)
This great top-down photo is likely an aerial survey photo and covers a wide area. We can see from north of the future Fremont Bridge south to the Ross Island Bridge, and from about 19th Avenue on the west side to 14th on the east side. No freeways had intruded on Portland’s landscape yet. Bonus points if you can find the airplane flying between the camera and the ground.
(City of Portland Archives)
Yesterday’s post showed traffic stopped for the train at SE Powell & 17th Avenue. This photo from the following year shows the same area from the air, apparently part of an aerial survey in preparation for building the underpass. Lots of good detail in this image.
(City of Portland Archives)
There was some discussion after last Wednesday’s post about SW Arthur winding down from 4th to 1st Avenue. I’ve excerpted that general area from an aerial survey photo to illustrate what this area looked like in 1950. Duniway Park is center-left and the north-south boundaries are roughly SW Lincoln and SW Woods. I-405 will eventually cut a swath across the top third of this area.
(City of Portland Archives)
Vintage Portland 