Historic Hood River
Context
Notes
I’ve seen this image many times before, but this time I looked at it the same day I prepared yesterday’s image of the Davidson house for HHR. On the reverse it says, “Walter Ford” and “H. Davidson House”. It appears the house was expanded between these two images, but I believe it’s the same house at 610 Oak Street. The building next door (recently Brian’s Pourhouse, now Naked Winery) also matches, with slight alterations.
A little context for Mr. Ford: from the pages of The Hood River Glacier we know in 1907 he was in high school, participating in a game of football on roller skate. In 1910 he circumnavigated Mt. Hood with a friend, and in 1915 he was secretary of the volunteer fire department. He served in World War I, stationed at Fort Canby. And he liked chicken (letter to mother: “Expect to be home Wednesday. Have plenty of chicken.”) He married Orva Wright in 1919, and was active in the American Legion.
By coincidence we saw Walter Ford’s father, Isaac Ford also driving a wagon in this image.
Tags: 6th Street, 7th Street, carriage, Davidson, Ford, horse, Oak Street, wagon
Kenn
The house is similar but not the slope of the street?
ArthurB
Slope looks the same to me– top of the roof of the house to the east is roughly even with the 1st floor in both pictures. Remember the photos may be slightly rotated– the cameras haven’t been leveled and the images have been cropped, so don’t expect a perfect alignment.
The north-south street level and slope was set about 1913 when the street was paved. The city council records show the levels. This is when the concrete retaining walls were installed, to the street level was modified significantly to reduce side slope and even out the grade.
Kenn
The cars in previous before and after pictures are on a grade, this picture the street and buggy are level.
Will
The porch columns of 610 Oak presently and in yesterday’s photo appear the same. The photo above appears to have a simple Doric design. Also the roof line of the facade is very different if you study the proximity of the eaves to the two upper story windows.
L.E.
I don’t know if this is the same home, but in the September 25, 1913 Glacier:
"The old Davidson home on Oak street, just opposite the hospital has been secured by the Cottage Hospital Association and will hereafter be occupied b the nurses of the institution. It will be known as the Hood River Hospital nurses’ home. Conveniently located to the hospital,, the residence makes an excellent location for the nurses."
Photo #1211 shows the Cottage Hospital.
https://www.hoodriverhistorymuseum.org?showimage=1211
kmb
Pictures taken of the same object from different angles can be deceiving. Even so I am not convinced it is the same house in both pictures. It would be helpful to see more of the background but it is too washed out. There would have had to been major renovations including structural changes to the house between pictures. I find it hard to believe someone would have done this back in those days. Who knows, maybe the first house burned down and they rebuilt a larger one, with the same styling as the original.
nels
Always enjoy your horse and mule photos Arthur.
ArthurB
I did some additional research on 610 Oak. While the Oregon Historic Sites Database shows the construction date as 1909, there is a house on this site in the 1902 and 1905 Sanborn maps. The shape of the house matches the current house well, including the bay window on the west side of the south face, except the house doesn’t extend to the east as far as the current structure. The 1909 Sanborn map shows a different footprint, which extends the house to the east to match the current layout.
Most of the evidence matches my theory this is 610 Oak. There are two pieces of evidence which don’t match perfectly. 1) In the 1902/1905 maps the front porch continues around the house to the east side. The horse’s head is in the way so we can’t confirm the east porch, but it doesn’t look like it wraps around. 2) The 1902/1905 house is listed at 1 1/2 stories, while I would call this 2 stories. The Sanborn maps are not perfectly consistent in how they count dormers and second stories. It’s also possible the house was modified in more than two stages.
Anyway, I’m more confident in my ID of this as 610 Oak, but it’s not 100% clear.