New Honors for Union Station

 

One of Portland’s most iconic historic buildings is earning new acclaim for its economic and cultural importance to Black residents in during a 75-year period ending in 1971.

 Union Station with its notable 144-foot-tall clock tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its transportation and architectural merit in 1975.  Now an amended nomination lists its major significance for Black history and commerce.

The amending information received glowing appreciation from the Portland Historical Landmarks Commission and will be forwarded what likely will be slam-dunk approval by a state preservation committee and then the National Park Service.

 In short, Union Station proved to be “the primary workplace and employer for the Black community in Portland, Oregon for the entirety of the 1896-1971 period.” Indeed, a 1941 study by the Portland Urban League concluded that 98 percent of working Black Portland residents worked in Union Station or for railroads that served it. 

 “The beginning of this date range (1896-1971) reflects the completion and first use of the station as a passenger terminal, with African Americans employed from the very beginning both at the station as well as on trains. The end of the period is when Black employment at Union Station began to decline precipitously” with the advent of Amtrak rail service.

 Researchers of the new historic material were Kristen Minor, a historic architecture consultant, and Zachary Stocks and Mariah Rocker, affiliated with the non-profit Oregon Black Pioneers organization.

 From Union Station’s earliest years, Blacks worked as Redcaps, Pullman porters, chair-car porters, baggage handlers, dining car cooks and waiters and car cleaners.  Given racial discrimination prevalent for several decades, Blacks were not selected for managerial positions.  Yet their jobs provided suitable income, for the most part, to support families and buy property. 

High Steppers, a band composed of railroad employees, 1923

“The significance of railroad jobs at Union Station to Portland’s African American community was not only economic; it held a cultural bond that shaped where families lived, provided the opportunity to earn a steady income without back-breaking labor, hosted Black union organization meetings, and fostered a sense of belonging that was unmatched by that of any other employer or commercial location in Portland,” the document states. .

“The arrival of the railroad represented a major gain for local Black employment, offering the chance to obtain jobs that were extremely limited otherwise. Railroad companies up and down the west coast sought Black labor for many customer-facing service jobs on trains beginning in the 1870s and 1880s. Railroads specifically sought Black workers for two reasons: first because they were cheaper than hiring white men, and second because African Americans especially from the South were considered proficient in customer service.”

 A. Philip Randolph, a New York labor activist who founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters,  visited Portland at least six times between 1927 and 1954 as part of his organizing efforts.   In 1937, the union became the first African American labor union to sign a collective bargaining agreement with a major corporation, the Pullman Car Co.

In endorsing the national nomination, the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission called it “a strong example of how to look at important places through the lends of cultural significance.”

 ---Fred Leeson

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Tortuous History of a Mid-Century Modern Landmark

 

In the early 1950s, Portland’s civic boosters feared that Portland was falling behind major West Coast cities in erecting a center for sports and conventions.  Even in the backwaters, Spokane, Washington, was opening a new 5,700-seat indoor venue.

Portland’s response was a May, 1954 ballot measure calling for the creation of a new city agency, the Exposition-Recreation Commission, to build a sports and convention center for $8 million.

 Alas, the successful measure didn’t specify where it would be built, or even for what sorts of events.  Could it be more than one facility?  What about baseball, football and the Pacific International Livestock Show? How realistic was the $8 million figure?

 Controversies raged over the next six years, including three more ballot appearances, fights between the Portland City Council and its own Exposition-Recreation Commission and insurgence of East Portland voters.  By 1960, the new Veterans Memorial Coliseum finally landed in a location that never had rated as a favorite. (By then the livestock show that had been a major booster of the project found itself squeezed out.) 

 Portland author Michael A. Orr reveals the convoluted, messy origins of the Coliseum in his new book, “Building Portland’s Memorial Coliseum:  A Mid-century Political Firestorm.” Orr’s massively-researched and richly detailed narrative includes novel factors at the time such as plans for new freeways, Lloyd Center and federal urban renewal money that played indirect roles in the Coliseum planning.

  In the early going, the five-member City Council by 3-2 favored a downtown location at or near the Civic Auditorium for the new building.  The Exposition-Recreation Commission, also by a 3-2 split favored the East Vanport/Delta Park site in North Portland that had been devastated by the 1948 flood.  City commissioners worried about another flood and possible geological instability at Vanport.

The city attorney essentially scrubbed the Vanport site by advising the council that they did not have to cede the city-owned Vanport site to the Exposition Commission if they didn’t want to. And they didn't.

In response, East Portlander’s headed by the East Side Commercial Club sponsored a 1956 initiative declaring that the new facility had to be located east of the Willamette River.  The measure passed by a razor-thin 303 votes.  Two more ballot measures later I 1956 affirmed the earlier vote, paving the way for the Coliseum to be built between the east ends of the Broadway and Steel Bridges.

Clearing approximately 13 square blocks for the Coliseum and surface parking meant some 1,400 mostly Black renters had to be evicted.  As Orr writes, “the city destroyed the heart of Portland’s Black community flourishing in the years following the 1948 Vanport flood.” The former tenants received no recompense.

 The landmark mid-century modern Coliseum suffered from deferred maintenance after the new Rose Quarter arena (now called the Moda Center) opened in the 1990s, leading some to believe the Coliseum's future was in jeopardy.  Orr says recent renovations once again have made it a pleasant event venue.  “It doesn’t feel like a dump anymore,” he said.  “Now it looks as if someone cares.”

Sometimes history does swirl around to repeat itself.  The current squabble over public funding for Moda Center renovations could prove over time to be almost as messy as the Coliseum saga the Orr so deftly examines.   

 ------Fred Leeson

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Joe Brown's Carmel Corn: A Tasty Landmark

 

Without question, a property with age and widespread recognition needs no formal designation to be a considered “landmark” in the public mind.  Example: Joe Brown’s Carmel Corn in the Lloyd Center.

 The small confection shop was an original occupant when the big shopping mall opened in Northeast Portland in 1960.  Now, 66 years later, it likely will be the last store to close when the mall shuts its doors to the public for the last time on Aug. 8.

 In the intervening years, literally tens of thousands of carmel corn buyers have visited the shop, which has remained in its original location despite an assortment of mall renovations.  For all the shoppers who remember the glory years of the Lloyd Center, Joe Brown’s proved to be the stable reminder of Lloyd Center history.

  Joe Brown’s history goes back farther than the Loyd Center.  George Brown opened the first carmel corn shop in downtown Portland in 1932, naming it for his son Joe.  The shop added a second location downtown and a third I the Hollywood District before World War II.  Pressures of the war, alas, forced the company to close.

Joe Brown’s sister, Betty Kalk, revived the company when the Lloyd Center opened.  Joe Brown’s Carmel Corn remained in family ownership until 1992.  The popcorn is popped and the carmel coating is prepared and applied all in the small shop.

The current owner is David Ferguson, a commercial real estate consultant and business owner who bought Joe Brown’s in 2019.  He reportedly intends to relocate Joe Brown’s Carmel Corn to a new location, but he has yet to disclose where.  A strong possibility appears to the Grand Central Bowl & Arcade, where he has leased space in the past.

 As closure of the Lloyd Center looms, Joe’s Carmel Corn expects a rush of business.  The carmel corn is wonderfully tasty, and many folks presumably will be interested in a nostalgic taste and a nostalgic last visit to the emptying halls of the big and once-vibrant shopping mall.

While the future of Joe Brown’s Carmel Corn is somewhat uncertain, so too is the future of the Loyd Center site.  It is zoned for high-density urban use, and the owner has shown drawings of high-rise residences and office towers.  Alas, is there a market for towers these days?

 The owner’s choices appear to be 1) tearing down all existing buildings and waiting for new proposals to arise, no matter how long that takes or 2) closing all entrances to buildings and parking lots and hoping to keep out homeless campers while plans unfold. Neither option bodes well for the nearby Irvington and Sullivan’s Gulch neighborhoods.

 ------Fred Leeson

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The Face of the James Beard Public Market

Proposed Frontage on SW Alder Street (BCV Architecture/Colab Architecture)

 

Backers of the proposed James Beard Public Market in downtown Portland have won approval for exterior changes to two buildings that eventually could hold dozens of stalls selling fresh and locally-prepared food.

The proposed market would be housed in two buildings that provide faces on SW 6^th Ave. and Alder Street.  Two floors of the 12-story Selling Building at 610 SE Alder St., a Portland landmark dating to 1910, would have its first two floors returned closer to the building’s original design.  The second building, adjacent at 622 SW Alder, would feature mass timber framing highlighting its three stories.

 An opening date for the proposed market has not yet been specified.  Given the amount of work awaiting in the two buildings, no opening is likely before 2027. The market is expected to offer fresh fruits and vegetables, in addition to locally-prepared foods that could be consumed on-site.

“It’s going to bring a much-needed lift to the downtown,” said Peggy Moretti, a member of the Portland Histgoric Landmarks Commission that unanimously approved changes proposed for the Selling Building.

 The bottom two floors of the Selling Building were remodeled in the 1930s and again in 1948, when red granite was applied to the facades with smaller windows punched through at the second floor.  Those early renovations were made while the store was a women’s clothing outlet called the Lerner Shops.  The most recent tenant in the now-vacant space was a Payless shoe store.

Selling Building today 

The approved changes would restore terra cotta facing and historic window sizes to the second floor, and creat traditional storefront faces on the SW 6^th Ave. and Alder St. frontages.  The Selling Building was an early example of several 20^th century office towers designed by A.E. Doyle, a prominent architect whose designs are included in many downtown blocks.

-----Fred Leeson 

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