Court Street Upgrade…

I wonder if you’ve noticed this…here’s the “before”

and here’s the “after” with the new siding…

House Moving…

Many houses in our neighborhood were moved here as downtown and the State Capital Mall expanded.  Moving houses was easier in the past, before cable TV and the long metal arms for stoplights that necessitate a crew to dismantle for a house move.

This house at 18th and Court, currently belonging to the Strubles,

was formerly on Chemeketa near Winter Street where it was the Presbyterian “Manse” or parsonage for the minister.  The church actually was moved  in 1958 and in 1960 the house came into our neighborhood.  The house was originally built in 1923 by the church, and it’s first occupants were Rev Ward Willis Long and his wife Evangeline.

Visualizing Our History

An important part of appreciating our great neighborhood is, for me, being able to visualize what it must have been like.  Herewith I’m going to scan all the historic photos I have so, you TOO can have the images in mind.

Before and after the turn of the 20th century the Statesman used to run a series of building updates for each year past on January 1 of the new year.  A photocopy of the 1905 paper came into my hands in the 1980′s.  These dim photos do show us a bit of what our neighborhood looked like in 1905, and for some of the houses I’ve taken images of what they look like today.  Here we go:

Here’s the Byrd house.  In 1905 is was still downtown near the corner of Court and High Streets.  It was moved in 1906 to its current location at 14th and Chemeketa (this house had remained in the Byrd family until Eleanor bought it in the 1990′s):

Here’s the H.S. Gile House, 1547 Court, as it looked in 1905 and then today:

Mr. Gile was an agriculturist and his wife Minnie was from the Watt family (who owned much of the early neighborhood).  He was one of the first to introduce Oregon prunes to the east coast domestic market.

Here’s the Charles O. Rose house at 1744 Chemeketa Street.  This house has been remodeled twice…an early remodel changed the roof configuration, and then in the 1980′s the house was raised up and another daylight floor was added under the cottage:

Now for the northeast corner of 15th and Court.  Right on the corner is the Ashby/Durbin House, one of the few in the district where we know the architect, Charles Burggraf.   The house was built in 1892 by Howard Ashby, a solicitor for the State Land & Trust Co.  The Durbins bought the house in 1898 and lived there until 1927.  For many years it was owned by Eunice Crothers and greatly modernized and remodeled by them after World War II.:

Right next door to the east is a house built by Howard Ashby’s brother Joshua, a butcher.  This house has had many “lives” and in 1905 was owned by Zachary Taylor Keyes.

The Keyes family sold the house to the Finches who ran a music studio there:

Today the house is apartments and has been substantially changed:

In trying to photograph the houses in the neighborhood today the plant growth is a challenge…check this out.  Here is the view from the Mills House porch(now belonging to Mike Perron and Patti Caswell) in 1910, looking west:

and here was that same view in the early 1990′s:

One last shot…you’ll have to go walk by Sharon and Larry Gray’s house at 1547 Chemeketa to see it today, but here it was  in the 19-teens maybe.  It was built by Jefferson Pooler, who built 6 other houses in our district (including the Mills house above).

Okay neighbors… enough history for today!

Change…Chapter 1

Change…the only thing you can count on.  In CCRHD there have been changes over the years for sure , and every year brings some new ones.  I was driving around the other day and remembered some of the early photos I came across when we were making the historic district, so here goes.

Here’s the lovely Wiggins Crawford House at 1759 Court, owned by the Wilkerson’s for years now, as it looked in 1905, and then today:

and then the Glover House at 1794 Court as it looked in 1987 before it got the second floor addition, and the way it looks today:

John Griffith’s house on Court looked like this when it was built

John was born in this house and some 50 years ago had it remodeled

and here’s how it looks today, with John still in residence:

Across the street is the Joseph & Louise Benjamin House

which had the siding removed this year, revealing the interesting fact that the original front porch had been “filled in” to become a room

Enough for one day…stayed tuned for the Giles house and more.

Neighborhood Night Out

Sidewalk chalks and paints, police car, fire truck, Red from Red Robin, salads, desserts, burgers, oh my.  Neighbors meeting and chatting and catching up.  Good cheer in the CCRHD.

Thanks to Lois for coordinating the fun.

Children’s sidewalk art surely entitled “Good Time Had By All.”

The Flyers Are Coming, The Flyers Are Coming

Watch your doors and porches this weekend for a bright yellow flyer reminding CCRHD neighbors of Neighborhood Night Out.

On Saturday July 31st and Sunday August 1st neighbors will distribute flyers to all historic district households inviting everyone to the National Night Out Block Party being held on Tuesday, August 3, starting at 6 p.m. The location is 15th street.

If you would like to be one of those neighbors distributing flyers or for more information about the event, contact Lois at 503-990-8778.

Know Your Boundaries

We live in an historic neighborhood of about 130 properties. Mill Creek is the north boundary.  The Daniel S. Yoder House (1891,) at 1881 Chemeketa sits on the northeastern corner and the Dr. Harvey J. Clements House (1923) at 360 14th sits on the northwestern corner.  Mill Creek flows from one yard to the other creating a pastoral corridor on the edge of our neighborhood and in the heart of our city.