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May 2011 Historic Preservationindex Lady in a dryer 2 Sucker Creek 3 did you know?3 Book That Built 2 The Gas House 3 Glorified Dogs 4 Who Was Hilgard?2 From Bricks to Bats 3 Place to Park 4 The Last Belluschi 2 Storrs, Houses, School 3 Poor, Little Rich Girl 4 SPeCiaL THankS Special thanks to Marylou Colver for researching and writing this publication to celebrate National Historic Preservation Month. Additional research by Erin O’Rourke-Meadors. Copyright by Marylou Colver. COnTaCT uS City of Lake Oswego PO Box 369 380 a avenue Lake Oswego, Oregon, 97034 bhirshberger@ci.oswego.or.us 503-675-3992 www.ci.oswego.or.us Sunday, May 1, 2011 History snippets naTiOnaL HiSTORiC PReSeRvaTiOn MOnTH Unless otherwise noted, the photos used in this publication are from the Lake Oswego Public Library collection online at www.ci.oswego.or.us/library/special/History.htm. PHOTOS Honk if you’re enlisted the war ended in 1945, the subscriber list had reached one hundred. A hand-drawn cartoon of a duck in flight served as the masthead. The newsletter was reproduced on an antiquated hectograph, a form of duplication that preceded photocopying machines. Hectographs were also known as “jellygraphs” because they used gelatin in the print process and are still used today to make temporary tattoos. The homespun content was written entirely by Truchot. News tidbits included the opening of a new shoe shop, the progress of Oregon war bond sales, births, marriages, and names of soldiers home on leave. These glimpses of hometown life hopefully transported local soldiers away from the realities of war for a brief “visit” back home. The subject matter and the hand- drawn cartoons, however, prompted one soldier to note, “Iowa isn’t the only place one finds corn.” Amid gas rationing, the blackout ordinance, drives for paper, aluminum, and tin cans, Theresa Truchot, an Oswego art and music teacher who later became a local historian, aided the war effort in her own unique way. In the 1940s she published a newsletter for servicemen from the Lake Oswego area humorously entitled, The Oswego Honk. Truchot recalled, “When I sent this newsletter about Oswego, I thought that the most appropriate name for it would be The Honk. We were blessed with many ducks and mallards and little ones down on the Duck Pond [Lakewood Bay].” The first issue is dated September 29, 1942 and it states that it will be “Published when convenient.” Instructions to the recipients include, “When you receive this, read it if possible, then mail it to the next victim on the list.” The wartime postage for soldiers in combat zones was free so Truchot relied on this to encourage round- robin circulation. Before We Can do it! When the photo above was taken in 1916, the area around the abandoned iron furnace had not yet become a dumping ground. It’s difficult to see, but there are Snider’s pork ears and catsup advertisements affixed to either side of the arch. A British patent was issued for the tin can in 1810. This was an innovation in food preservation, but empty cans subsequently posed a problem. In 1936, a headline in The Lake Oswego Review noted: “Old tin cans a menace to health.” The article states, “The City of Oswego does not have a dumping ground and we have heard that the old furnace down by the river is being used for that purpose. We are also informed by the Ladd Estate Company that the above mentioned place should not be used in this manner. There is a garbage collector who will call at your door.” Officers of the law were on the alert for those who tossed tin cans on Oswego’s highways and byways. The same year, on Twin Fir Road in Lake Grove, it was reported that Mr. Peterson invented a novel solution to the problem of disposing of tin cans; he used them to build a root cellar. Root cellars were commonly constructed completely or partially underground so the lower temperature and steady humidity would help preserve root vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and turnips. Cellars were typically built of stone, On February 24, 1935 it was reported in the Oswego Review that Harold Pierce Davidson and his wife, Leona, moved from one of the oldest houses in Old Town Oswego, to their brand-new home on Lake Front Road. The home was equipped with all of the modern conveniences, including an “electric pig” for the disposal of garage. For the time, this was an avant-garde appliance. Although the first An Electric Pig in the Kitchen garbage disposal was invented in 1927, the invention didn’t gain widespread popularity in American homes until the 1970s and 1980s. The intent of the building contractor, Ray Wason, was to provide unrestricted views from almost every part of the home. Wason came from Massachusetts and his father was prominent in the field of concrete construction. The Streamline Local legend has it that there is a direct connection between the construction of the Elk Rock Tunnel and an Oswego resident. At the time the tunnel was built in 1921, Mrs. Lawrence Newlands, whose full name was “Winewood Machar Fraser Newlands,” was the wife of the Vice President and Manager of Oswego’s Oregon Portland Cement Company. The Newlands lived on Furnace Street in the Old Town neighborhood. Sallie Pettinger, a friend and neighbor of Mrs. Newlands, recalled that in 1919, “I happened to be riding to Portland with Mrs. Ella [sic] C. Newlands, wife of the president [sic] of Oswego Cement Company [sic]. A rock of considerable size [actually a 500 pound boulder] from the Elk Rock bluff crashed through the top of the coach, inflicting a cut on Mrs. Newland’s forehead, a cut requiring several stitches.” An added detail can be found on several websites that state, “It is said that she [Mrs. Newlands] had to wear a wig for some time after the accident.” The source of the latter information remains elusive. Falling rocks on this section of the trestle were a chronic problem Moving Heaven and Earth On Sunday May 18, 1980 Mt. St. Helens, a volcano in southern Washington, literally blew its top or perhaps that should be blew “her” top. In Native American legend, the brothers Wy’east and Klickitat both fell in love with a beautiful maiden named Loowit. The brothers fought over her and wreaked so much havoc that the gods punished the trio by turning them into Mount Hood, Mount Adams, and Mount St. Helens. When the volcano erupted many townspeople went to the top of Mountain Park or Skylands to watch the eruption. Ash blanketed Lake Oswego and, of course, made national news. The Pittsburgh Press reported, “The southern border of the ash fallout was placed at Lake Oswego, Ore., 70 miles southwest of the mountain. It extended another 55 miles west of Lake Oswego to Tillamook on the Oregon coast then to Astoria, Ore., 65 miles north of Tillamook.” Jack Walsdorf, Vice-President of Sales, at Blackwell North America in Lake Oswego turned the event into a marketing opportunity for the British- based bookseller. Bags of ash were distributed at the 1980 American Library Association summer conference and mailed to Blackwell’s customers with a promotional sheet including the message: “We move the earth for you.” Children in Lake Oswego had to wear masks as protection from ash so they could play outdoors. Photo courtesy of Kendall Wilson. The hand-drawn masthead of The Oswego Honk. The Streamline Moderne style Davidson House (demolished) on Lake Front Road. Photo courtesy of Marylou Colver. continued on page 2 continued on page 3 The Wig of the Bigwig’s Wife? continued on page 4 A stock certificate for the Oregon Iron & Steel Company; Villard was a major investor. Who Was Ferdinand Heinrich Gustav Hilgard? The Book That Built the Library Mary Goodall (left) presenting a check for $2,800 for the library building fund from sales of Oregon’s Iron Dream to Bea Silvander and Isabel Stidd. The Belluschi designed Sacred Heart School was renamed Our Lady of the Lake School in 1951. The Last Belluschi Pietro Belluschi, born in Ancona, Italy and educated in Rome, was Dean of Architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) School of Architecture and Planning from 1951 to 1965. He was also the renowned architect of the Julliard School of Music in New York City, St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco, the Portland Art Museum and many other significant buildings. Belluschi immigrated to Portland as a young man and apprenticed at the firm of A. E. Doyle. In a career spanning fifty years, he designed over 1,000 buildings. Belluschi is credited, along with John Yeon, with creating the Northwest Style of architecture. The world-famous Belluschi designed at least three buildings in Lake Oswego -- a school, a house, and a church. Of the three, one remains in place, another is slated for demolition, and the third, through private efforts, has been deconstructed and stored for eventual relocation. The Sacred Heart (now Our Lady of the Lake) School, designed by Belluschi in 1949, will be demolished to make way for a new school building once the funds can be raised for its replacement. Current plans do not call for deconstruction so much of the salvageable architectural elements may be trucked to a landfill. The Griffith House designed in 1949 for Arthur and Lucy Griffith was originally located on the corner of Pine Valley Road and Iron Mountain Boulevard. The house was a small, residential jewel sited both to blend in with and to take advantage of the wooded setting. Through the preservation efforts of Tim Mather, President of MCM Construction, the house has been saved and is on track to be reconstructed on Lake Oswego’s Marylhurst University campus. At the age of 91, Belluschi did the drawings for Our Savior’s Lutheran Church on Country Club Road. The church was built in 1994, the same year that Belluschi passed away. This was the last of more than 30 churches Belluschi designed. The church is soon to be the only Belluschi building in Lake Oswego that remains on its original site. Usually libraries are built for books. In the case of Oswego, it was a book that helped build the library. Civic leader, Mary Goodall, donated proceeds from her 1958 history of Oswego entitled Oregon’s Iron Dream to the Friends of the Library for construction of the Lake Oswego Public Library on 4th Street that preceded the current structure. In addition to her efforts on behalf of the library, Mary Goodall: • Founded the Oswego Heritage Council in 1970 in an effort to save the historic J. R. Irving house • Saved the giant sequoia at the corner of 5th Street and A Avenue that now serves as the City’s holiday tree • Helped preserve the historic Peg Tree in Oswego’s Old Town • Served on the Lake Oswego City Council for eight years • Planted flowering trees along the south side of Country Club Road • Helped preserve the Iron Furnace in George Rogers Park • Served as honorary trustee of the Lake Oswego Junior Historical Society • Helped found the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts • Sponsored the first ordinance to protect our urban forest On May 6, 1989, two months before her death, a stroke had made it difficult for her to write, but she scrawled a note to the Lake Oswego Development Review Commission regarding an upcoming hearing on the Pfeifer Pony Farm in the Holly Orchard neighborhood. The note reads, “I am writing to ask you to deny action on the Pfeifer Pony Farm property for historic reasons. Wish I could list them but it’s a terrible effort to write since my stroke. I now live in a foster home/small rest home. Please don’t let our history slip away.” It is signed Mary Goodall Ramsey former resident and member City Council. At the bottom of the note she scrawled: “I love L.O.” Unfortunately the Pfeifer Pony Farm land and the magnificent clear fir barn on the historic J. W. and Metta (Kruse) Stone property were lost to a housing development. Mary Goodall, until the very end of her life, fought to preserve the history of the city she so dearly loved. Feared and well-studied, polio gripped the nation in the 1940s and 1950s. Worries caused by this frighteningly random disease were put to rest thanks to Jonas Salk’s development of the polio vaccine in 1955. Today there are few instances of the infectious poliomyelitis disease in developed nations. According to Joan Fewless Quigley, it was quite a different story 70 years ago. In a reminiscence entitled, Ripples on the Lake, Quigley says, “In 1943 through 1946 the polio epidemic hit. No more gathering at the park to swim and no more going to the crowded movie theater in Oswego. Needless to say, our social lives were definitely curtailed. That was nothing compared to the deep sadness we felt for the families who were affected by the epidemic in our Lake Grove area. Frequently, a classmate would be absent for a few weeks, then return with braces on their legs and crutches for walking. Some of our classmate’s families suffered the death of a sibling. [Note: The Oregon State Board of Health records on infectious diseases for this period do not indicate as high an incidence of polio as recollected.]” Quigley continues, “As an adult, I lived in the town of Oswego, on a street where there were five houses with iron lungs in the front windows. There were generators on the front lawns, and if the electricity went out in the area, the volunteer firemen would arrive at assigned locations, and pump the generators by hand until electricity was restored. My child, on her way home from kindergarten, came in and told me, ‘There’s a lady up the street who lives in a dryer’!” There’s a Lady Living in a Dryer The first grade class at Lake Grove School in 1948, during the era of the polio epidemic. In 1882, financiers Henry Villard and Simeon Reed purchased the Oswego Iron Company. The company’s new name, Oregon Iron & Steel, reflected the change in ownership and the addition of steel products. Villard’s primary interest was in building the Northern Pacific Railroad, a transcontinental line to connect Chicago with Seattle. The iron industry could provide rails for the undertaking and could subsequently distribute iron nation wide. Villard’s detractors did not like his tactic of buying the competition to create a monopoly. Villard was singularly undeterred. In 1883, Ulysses S. Grant drove the “golden spike” that completed the line. This transcontinental route eventually helped change the face of the nation, but the iron industry in Oswego was shuttered by 1894. Villard was born in 1835 in Bavaria under the name Ferdinand Heinrich Gustav Hilgard. At the age of 18, without his parent’s consent or knowledge, he immigrated to the United States and changed his name to “Henry Villard.” In his first career as a journalist he covered Abraham Lincoln’s 1860 presidential campaign. As a war correspondent, he covered the American Civil War and the Austro- Prussian War. These first-hand battle experiences prompted Villard to become a pacifist. He married Helen Frances “Fanny” Garrison, a suffragist and a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the oldest civil rights organization in the United States. Among his other accomplishments, he owned the New York Evening Post and The Nation and he was the first major benefactor of the University of Oregon. At the end of his life Villard wrote his memoirs with the proviso that they not be published for 25 years. Villard died in 1900 and they were published in 1904. An Electric Pig in the Kitchen ... continued from pg 1 Moderne style house was built of steel, glass, and vibrated concrete. Vibrating was a technique used to remove air pockets from concrete slabs or units. This building material was appropriate for Davidson, an employee of the Oregon Portland Cement Company for forty years. The ship-like lines of the house fit the lakeside setting and it was one of the few examples of this architectural style in Oswego. On the interior, indirect lighting fixtures were used throughout the house. This is shielded up-lighting that is bounced off the ceiling, an innovation developed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The stair banister was made of stainless steel in a modernistic design. The corners of the rooms were rounded for style and easy cleaning. In fact, the house, it was said, “…would delight any woman who cares for homemaking and housekeeping.” 2 -- naTiOnaL HiSTORiC PReSeRvaTiOn MOnTH, May 2011 At various times in Oswego’s history it is well known that iron, cement, and pipe had been manufac- tured, but brick making was also a local industry. In 1957 it was reported that, “Excavating for the Lake Oswego Village [the shopping center on the northeast corner of State Street and North Shore Road] now under construction… has turned up remnants of Oswego’s old brickyard.” The article goes on to say that David Long arrived in Oswego in 1884 and the brickyard was in operation at that time. A man named William (Billy) E. Wells was reportedly the proprietor, but a fire in 1921 destroyed nearly all of the 1890 U. S. census records so this cannot be verified. Clay deposits came from the hillside near Leonard Street and the Duck Pond (Lakewood Bay). The brick was used to build the second furnace and its charcoal kilns. Karl Faucette remembered, “The coke [sic] ovens were great half globes built of brick. Some of the finest brickwork I ever saw went into those things. The man that laid those bricks was an artist.” He added, “There were twenty-four of those things [An 1888 article in The West Shore magazine notes that there were originally 36 brick beehive style kilns] and it was a beautiful sight to see all these rows. I counted them and there was an even two dozen. I never ceased to look at them and admire them.” When the second furnace and the kilns were demolished some of the bricks were used in 1908 to build the Christie School. Cornelius DeBauw recalled, “When they [the Sisters of the Holy Names] bought the farm, they also bought the brick from the kilns where we used to make charcoal for the fur- naces [sic]. They tore that down, and then they took the brick and they hauled them up there and used them on the Christie Home [sic].” Mrs. George Rogers also recollected that, “Our house on Wilbur Street [in the Old Town neighborhood] is built from brick from the second old furnace.” By 1900, the brick operation had shut down and the site had been turned into a baseball field. The Gas House Storrs, Houses, and a School John Storrs was an accom- plished and nationally recog- nized architect who designed many of Oregon’s iconic buildings. He began to practice in Oregon in 1954 and his work includes Catlin Gabel School, the Western Forestry Center, Sokol-Blosser winery, and the Oregon School of Arts and Craft. For the developer, John Gray, Storrs also converted the former B. P. Johns furniture factory into Johns Landing and he designed Salishan Lodge and Sunriver Resort. In 1951, prior to Storrs’ move to Oregon, noted architect, Van Evera Bailey, designed John Gray’s Oswego home at 1345 Chandler Road, which has been demolished. The “Gas House” isn’t as ominous as it sounds. It was one of five model homes built in Oswego in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1939, it was reported that a duplicate of the prize-winning home in the American Gas Association and Architectural Forum magazine national contest would be built in Oswego. The Portland firm of Johnson, Wallwork & Dukehart, designed the home, sited on the corner of Iron Mountain and Country Club roads. Romaine D. Ware, the former garden editor for Ladies’ Home Journal, was selected as the landscape architect. A 1939 newspaper article reported, “Oswego people, and for that matter, the people of the entire Northwest are fortunate in having such a structure as this duplicate of the ‘Gas House’ constructed here as all we ever see or know of these prize homes is a picture in some big Eastern magazine.” Architect Cameron Clark designed the “Life House” for Life magazine’s home building program. It opened May 26, 1940 on Avenue A in the Lake Bay homes subdivision of the Lake Oswego Country Club district. Over 4,000 visitors toured the house that was touted as being, “Completely automatic with the most modern gas appliances supplying automatic water heating, house heating, refrigeration and cooking, and furnished by Powers Furniture company, the home is presented as a modern dwelling ready to move into.” In 1937, Richard Sundeleaf designed the Ladd Estate Company model home next door to their real estate sales office. It exemplified the type of home desired for the district. The home, sensitively enlarged, stands at 432 Country Club Road. It is on the City’s Landmark Designation List and the National Register of Historic Places. At 420 Tenth Street, across Avenue A from the Ladd Estate model home, stands the Johns-Manville model home, also designed by Sundeleaf. It was built in 1936 for the Ladd Estate Company. Oswego, it was reported, “has been selected for the model house of triple-insulated construction as developed by the Johns-Manville engineers.” The innovative products that were being showcased in this model house included asbestos. Making Light of Sucker Creek The first white settlers in Oswego relied on water as a source of power. Albert Alonzo Durham located his sawmill on Sucker Creek in 1850 for this reason. Almost forty years later, the first electrical current in the country was harnessed and transmitted from Oregon City to Portland in 1889. Electricity soon lighted the way out of the “dark ages” of candles, lanterns, and gaslights. The Oregon Iron & Steel Company owned the water rights and the dam on Sucker Creek. To retain these rights, water needed to be used for industrial purposes. Iron production had ceased, so the company seized on the need for a local source of electricity to retain their water rights. Construction of the cement structure began in 1909 and was completed in 1911. Two wooden penstocks, or enclosed pipes, five feet in diameter, were built to carry water to the generator. Power was needed for Oswego’s pipe foundry as well as other commercial and residential customers. In 1911, the Oswego Lake Water Light & Power Company (in some sources it is erroneously called the Oswego Power & Light Company) is named in tax records, it was incorporated in 1915, and it was an affiliate of the Oregon Iron & Steel Company. During World War II the power plant was staffed around the clock. William (Billy) Banks served as the night shift operator. He had a potbelly stove for heat and a wooden chair named “Sparky” that was decorated with glass electrical insulators on each of the four legs. When the daytime operator quit to work in the shipyards, Billy’s wife, Claire, took over the shift. The Lake Oswego Corporation purchased the power plant in 1960. Due to the deed restriction requiring industrial use to retain water rights, the historic powerhouse continues to generate a small amount of electricity to this day. One remaining penstock, made of Douglas fir, carries water to the plant. The original Pelton wheel water turbine, first patented in 1889, and the Westinghouse generator are still in place. From Bricks to Bats The power plant on Sucker Creek (now Oswego Creek). The penstocks can be seen to the left of the building. wood, or cement. Mr. Peterson’s use of tin cans to build the entire structure was prompted by the high cost of brick and tile plus he had spare time on his hands that summer. The newspaper article states, “The mere mention of a structure of any kind being built of tin cans is usually subject for a joke, but Mr. Peterson says the cellar is no joke with him and is rather proud of his accomplishment.” By the 1940s, tin cans were no joking matter. Tin was needed for armaments during World War II. Oswego, like towns across America, held tin can drives. Hortense Slocum recalled, “We had a mountain of tin cans, and what to do with them, we didn’t know. So we sent out the word that we would have a potluck luncheon – everybody to come with their old clothes. And I want to tell you that there was a bunch of us and a lot of women had never stamped a tin can flat in her life. Mary [S.] Young, one of them, just hammered away at tin cans. And at the end of the day, we had enough mashed tin cans to fill a flat [rail] car.” We Can do it! ... continued from pg 1 It’s difficult to verify, but this turn-of-the-century photo may depict the Oswego brickyard. Photo courtesy of Marylou Colver. The Ladd Estate Company model house is also erroneously known as the White House for Eugene White, an early, but not the first, owner of the home. did you know? In 1962, many townspeople were engaged in a battle to prevent a freeway from bisecting Lake Oswego. The proposed “Laurelhurst Freeway” was to connect the Baldock (now Interstate 5) and the Banfield freeways. One proposed route was North Shore Boulevard and another was South Shore Boulevard. An aerial view of the newly constructed Lakeridge High School. Photo courtesy of Lakeridge High School. continued on page 4 naTiOnaL HiSTORiC PReSeRvaTiOn MOnTH, May 2011 -- 3 naTiOnaL HiSTORiC PReSeRvaTiOn MOnTH, May 2011 -- 4 History snippets - BrougHt to you By tHe City of Lake oswego City of Lake Oswego 380 a avenue Lake Oswego, OR 97034 www.ci.oswego.or.us 503-635-0257 Glorified Dogs and Plain Old Mutts Posters touted, “Something new in Lake Grove…A modern new 4-lane highway [i.e., the newly widened Boones Ferry Road].“ An all-day event on September 28, 1968 celebrated the occasion. Since the road was named after a descendant of Daniel Boone, Dallas McKennon, who played Cincinnatus on the “Daniel Boone” television series, was the guest of honor. Four skydivers jumped from an aircraft 7,500 feet above the venue. During their 2,200 feet free fall they formed a star shape as red smoke trailed from their boots. The foursome opened their parachutes and floated to the Lake Grove school playground with scissors for the ribbon cutting to officially open the road. The celebration included carnival booths, prancing horses, unicyclists, square dancing, historical floats, bands, and celebrities. Souvenir wooden nickels were sold for five cents. Eighty dogs were entered in the “Mutt Show” and prizes were awarded for the longest tail, the longest nose, and the biggest feet. The Lake Grove Lions sold buffalo burgers and “Boone dogs” (as opposed to boondoggles) described as “glorified hot dogs.” The Lake Grove Albertson’s grocery store held a buffalo meat sale in honor of the event. Evidently expecting a stampede, the advertisement noted, “This buffalo will be sold on a first come first serve basis. Come early and don’t be disappointed!” Poor, Little Rich Girl A 1921 photo of a train passing through the north end of the newly constructed Elk Rock Tunnel. The soon-to-be- dismantled trestle can be seen on the left. Mary Hoadly Scarborough Young, who once owned the Twin Points estate on Oswego Lake, came from a wealthy and well-connected family. Her maternal grandfather, George Hoadly, was Governor of Ohio. After relocating to New York City, one of the Hoadly’s neighbors was Henry Villard who would, coincidently, play a part in Oswego’s iron industry. Young’s fraternal great grandfather, Jonathan Edwards, was President of Princeton and other Scarborough family members served as Presidents of Yale University. Personal wealth and connections provided no protection from tragedy. Mary’s father, Theodore Woolsey Scarborough, died Finding a Place to Park The 1867 plat of Oswego filed by John Corse Trullinger set aside land between Leonard and Church Streets [in today’s Old Town neighborhood] for a park. The park was never built and the land was later developed. The community waited 78 years for the first official park, George Rogers Park, to be built. The area had served as a seasonal home for Native Americans, a shantytown for Oswego’s Chinese laborers, a springtime gypsy camp, a steamboat landing, and an unofficial park. Herbert Yates said, “The presence of the Chinese laborers need not surprise us as the Oregon Iron & Steel Company was booming in 1890 and the area of George Rogers Park, now occupied by the ball fields, was something of a small Chinatown.” Yates also mentions that, “The present site of George Rogers Park made a perfect spring camping spot for gypsies who came somewhat regularly.” Herbert Letcher Nelson recalled, “What is called George Rogers Park now was always thought of as a park. It was a place where they had July Fourth celebrations and so on. It was level enough for a ball ground.” In 1973, George Rogers’ wife, Lottie, recalled that, “He [George Rogers] first became interested in parks about twenty years ago or so. He built the park up, which at that time was a pretty nice place, now it’s kind of a weed patch. Well, he worked on the park from the time they started it until the time he died, that was probably twenty years.” In 1952 the Lake Oswego City Council voted to name the park in honor of Rogers. The initial outlay for the two parcels of land was just over $28,000. Women picnicking in the park in 1950. The masthead of the original flyer for the Boones Ferry Festival in 1968. from the time the line opened in 1887, but it is dubious whether Mrs. Newlands’ mishap was directly responsible for the construction of the Elk Rock Tunnel. An account in a 1921 issue of the Southern Pacific Bulletin states, “After an exhaustive study of some eight different plans for the betterment of the service and protection of traffic over the trestle authority was given for the construction of a tunnel and the removal of the trestle.” The Southern Pacific Bulletin also relates that the 1,395-foot tunnel was built from both ends and met at the center with a eighth of an inch tolerance. Some of the excavated basalt was dumped into the Willamette River and the interior of the tunnel was lined with fragrant Port Orford cedar (the wood was destroyed by a fire in 1967). Work forces of 80 to 175 men were employed for six months from June 1 until the tunnel’s completion on December 5, 1921. It was noted “The tunnel being situated in a fine suburban residence section [Dunthorpe] no suitable camp site could be found. The Hauser Construction Company then secured the one-time palatial river steamer T. J. Potter and the vessel was moored at the southerly end of the trestle and used for quarters for the men. It is doubtful if a tunnel gang ever had such quarters before.” The Wig of the Bigwig’s Wife? at age 33 from typhoid fever; Mary was five years old. Mary’s mother remarried and the newlyweds relocated to Portland, Oregon. Three months after the wedding, thugs robbed and murdered Mary’s stepfather, Doctor Philip Edwards Johnson, and threw his body off the Ford Street Bridge (now the Vista Avenue Bridge). Mary, married to Thomas Earl Young, was the first to purchase a home site when the Ladd Estate Company opened up a new tract of land on Oswego Lake in 1931. The eight-acre parcel, and hence her estate, was named “Twin Points.” Young was an active Oswego Garden Club member and the gardens of her estate were a showplace. Demolition of Mary S. Young’s Twin Points estate in the early 1970s. According to Young’s friend, Caroline Strickland, Young was, “the original earth girl.” Young funded landscape improvements in George Rogers Park as well as working hands-on on the project. She, it is said, purchased acreage on the Willamette River south of Lake Oswego as a surprise gift for her husband after he expressed an interest in raising cattle. The story continues that Thomas objected to the money spent on the parcel and refused the gift. Young made alternate plans to build a river view estate with tennis courts, a shooting range, and equestrian trails, but this was never built. Young was probably driving her red Thunderbird when a Lake Oswego policeman gave her a speeding ticket. This incident may have ultimately determined the parcel’s future. Angered by the ticket, Young decided to deed the nearly 132 acres to the State of Oregon instead of Lake Oswego. When the park on Highway 43 officially opened in 1973 it became the second state park in Clackamas County. Restrictions stipulated that the property be kept as nearly as possible in its natural state. The park is currently owned by the City of West Linn. Storrs, Houses, and a School ... continued from pg 3 Storrs was unabashedly controversial and he was a larger-than-life figure that commanded attention upon entering a room. Scorn and praise co-existed in both his supporters and his detractors. In Lake Oswego, Storrs designed Lakeridge High School, which opened in 1971. He took an unconven- tional approach as a preliminary to designing the school. Storrs invited students to his home and talked with them about their thoughts about how a school should look and function. The school was remod- eled extensively and expanded in 2003. Storrs also designed at least two homes in Lake Oswego both mid-century modern designs dating from 1959 at 245 Chandler Place and 983 Lake Front Road. Storrs also designed two homes in Skylands at 309 SW Skyland Drive and 1415 S. Skyland Drive. Storrs was an accomplished chef and his son, Leather Storrs, is currently a celebrated Portland chef and restaurateur. did you know? Some of the stone used to build Portland’s original Morrison Street bridge in 1887 was quarried in Oswego.