Historic Hood River
Step Out of the Way, Please
10-1-2018
Notes
We’ve seen plenty of pictures of Harry Dewitt, but I haven’t seen as many of the Hood River Garage in the background. The Hood River Garage is now “Mall 202” on Cascade Avenue. That’s the Gerdes Hotel to the right. Pansy Dewitt indicates the image is about 1919.
We saw the interior of this garage in this fine image. I think about that one every time I have lunch at River Daze.
Category: Downtown Hood River
Tags: 1910s, Cascade Avenue, DeWitt, garage, Gerdes Hotel, Hood River Garage, snow
Tags: 1910s, Cascade Avenue, DeWitt, garage, Gerdes Hotel, Hood River Garage, snow
L.E.
All I see is snow. Lots of it.
Did Harry DeWitt move his garage up to Oak Street after this?
Arthur
Harry Dewitt’s garage was where the Columbia Center for the Arts is now. He is standing out front, looking across Cascade Avenue.
I wish we had a better picture of this building in its early years, but sometimes you have to look around the snow to get a glimpse.
L.E.
This page is why I asked.
https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=112235
Norma
What is now Mall 202 now was the Buick dealership when I was growing up. Rene Devinne (not sure of spelling) owned it. I always thought it was funny that his wife insisted on driving a Chevrolet!
Arthur
Yes, LE, there is a little confusion here. The building on Cascade is described as his "Ford Garage" by Pansy and looks like service only. The one on Oak says Chrysler, and looks like a showroom. I suspect some time with the newspaper archives would clarify.
Mary Bartmess Kramer
I agree with Norma, in the 50s it was a buick dealership.
Norma
Thank you Mary. I know because my parents bought a Buick there in 1957. I took my driver’s license test in it.
L.E.
And before that, this piece of ground was horse transportation.
https://www.hoodriverhistorymuseum.org?showimage=1220
Jeffrey W Bryant
Harry DeWitt lived at 912 State Street in 1910
https://www.hoodriverhistorymuseum.org?showimage=300
I lived there in the 1960’s.
Alice Kaseberg
On February 9, 1916, the Hood River News mentioned that the heaviest snowfall ever recorded was on the ground. Trains were blocked. Transportation and communications were stopped. Electric and phone lines were down. [My mother’s research.] My grandfather was city engineer in charge of snow removal and other things. Ended up with nine feet of snow in Hood River and he hated snow all the rest of his life. Due to family circumstances my grandfather, PM Morse, left the city engineer position that he had held since 1909, and moved to Eugene where he became Lane County Surveyor and Engineer, 1917 – 1957.