Category: History
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Rankin Airport 1930-1933
Wikipedia tells us that John Gilbert “Tex” Rankin (January 20, 1894, Texas – February 23, 1947 Klamath Falls) was an aerobatic pilot, barnstormer, air racer, and flight instructor from the 1920s to the 1940s. Born in Texas on January 20, 1894, Rankin began flying in 1913, when airplanes were still considered a new oddity. If…
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Union Ave and Columbia Blvd in 1916
In 1916 Union Avenue (now Martin Luther King Boulevard) ended at Bryant Street — north of Bryant all the way to the Columbia Slough was the Lewis Love Donation Land Grant, owned by the heirs of Captain Lewis Love. The Vancouver line of the Portland Railway Light & Power Company had a right-of-way over Love…
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THE MUNICIPAL AUTOMOBILE CAMP 1921-1926
In 1908 Henry Ford introduced the Model T and made cars affordable. In the years following that epoch-making event, American took to the road in great numbers, to make trips, both for business and pleasure. Boosters in the up and coming cities on the West Coast soon realized that they needed to provide accommodations for…
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The Wrong Smith
Fake news has it that the City in 1909 bought land for Peninsula Park from Elizabeth Smith a.k.a. Liverpool Liz, who ran a racetrack and a saloon there. False. Evergreen Park (1899-1900) was leased from W.K. Smith by Harry Busch, who was financed by $ 6,000 from Lizzie Smith. The good citizens of Piedmont, controlled…
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Piedmont, Old and New
This is a cut out of a 1901 map of all of Portland. The complete map, which has a decent resolution, is at https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B94Urj3OjM7BQUw2Nm5DdDgwMEE Our cutout shows the area of modern Piedmont as it was in 1901 (and a piece of Woodlawn and Humboldt). The whole northern part is the Lewis Love Donation Claim, completely…
Piedmont. Portland's Emerald. 