One of the oldest and most storied historic structures in Oregon is not a building! From 1873 until their closure in 2011, the Willamette Falls Locks made navigation on the Willamette River possible. Because the locks sit opposite to the old Blue Heron paper mill site now being redeveloped in Oregon City, we see the […]
Saving the Remnants of Our Pioneer Places
Last year, Restore Oregon listed the categorical group of Willamette Valley Pioneer Houses and Farmsteads as one of Oregon’s Most Endangered Places. Often referred to as “Oregon’s oldest buildings,” these handmade buildings marked the end of the Oregon Trail from 1841 to 1865. While their significance to our state’s history is paramount, these buildings are […]
Next Stop LUBA: Lessons Learned from the Carman House
Since 2012, the Lake Oswego Preservation Society has spearheaded a community-wide effort to save the oldest and arguably most historically significant house in Lake Oswego, the 1855 territorial-era Carman House. Representing one of just a small handful of pre-statehood properties that still stand in the Willamette Valley, just a few weeks ago the local landmark […]
Rediscovering Settlement-Era Homesteads in the Willamette Valley
Since the 1960s, Oregon’s state and local governments have conducted architectural field surveys of groupings of older buildings, each with varying levels of significance and importance, in order to document and understand Oregon’s historic places. One that was completed over the last year holds special significance to the history, people, and development of Oregon as […]