Historic Hood River

Notes

This is a good view of Button Junction which shows how the Columbia River Highway, the Mt. Hood Loop Highway and the road to the Hood River White Salmon Interstate Bridge came together in the 1940s.  The intersection is still in the same place, but the approach from State Street changed significantly in 1982 with a new bridge across the Hood River.  The east abutment of the new bridge was considerably higher and closer to the junction than the old one.  It comes in at the bend in the road.  You can see how the two bridges cross at different places in this post.

When the bridge was completed across the Columbia River in 1924, you would access it by making a left turn off the State Street bridge, squeeze under the railroad bridge, then approach the interstate bridge.  The access was rerouted through Button Junction a couple of years later.  The Loop Highway brought more traffic that way, and I suspect the low clearance of the railroad bridge was a problem too.

The name “Button Junction” comes from the Button house and ranch at that location.  The road from the junction to the interstate bridge has the rarely used name “Button Bridge Road.” I believe “Button Bridge” is the bridge over the railroad. I date this image “circa 1940” based on the fuzzy view of an automobile, and comparing it to an image dated 1948.

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