Historic Hood River
Downtown Hood River, circa 1883
Notes
Last week’s Carleton Watkins view of Hood River was so nice I have to share some of the finer details with you. I’ve zoomed in on Oak Street, as it was circa 1883.
Nearest to the camera is the post office building on First Street at Oak (though I don’t know for sure it was the post office prior to 1893). We’re seeing it from the back, so you see the one story woodshed behind the building, the two story building, then the back of the false front. The building faced onto First Street, NE corner of First and Oak, so Oak Street runs to the left of that building. The same building later housed the Yasui store, and is now the site of the New Yasui Building (Celilo Restaurant).
On the other side of Oak Street (to the left), facing onto Second Street(SW corner Oak and Second Street), is the E.L. Smith General Store (later George Crowell General Store). It is peaking out between the trees from the current location of the Gorge Fly Shop (the Hall Building).
The large building to the right is the back of the original Mt. Hood Hotel which faces onto Cascade Avenue.
As our State Street urban renewal project is finishing up I’ve gotten many questions about why we don’t have more room for parking, travel lanes, bike lanes, etc. in our downtown district. The answer goes back to Henry Coe’s original plat of the downtown in 1881, just a couple of years before this image. The width of our downtown streets was determined all the way back then. 60′ to 80′ right-of-way for parking and travel probably seemed pretty extravagant to the folks living in that cluster of wooden structures, but in the era of Sprinter vans and extended cab pickups they seem pretty cramped.
Just 30 years after this image the majority of our downtown building were in place, and I suspect they were already wishing our streets were a little bit wider.
Tags: 1880s, 1st Street, 2nd Street, bridge, Carleton Watkins, EL Smith Building, Hood River, Mt Hood Hotel, Oak Street, post office, railroad
Bill Seaton
Arthur,
Like my car, HHR thinks it is still on Daylight Saving Time.
Buzz
Not a mormon, but they certainly knew how to lay out a town.
Jim Gray
to bad the streets weren’t laid out like Baker City
Arlen Sheldrake
as you say Arthur, it is interesting to trace back pivotal decision points such as this street width being determined in 1881. our next exhibit at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center will be on the history of MAX and certainly one of the display panels will be about that first decision to kill the Mt. Hood Freeway…we need to be reminded that on occasion good decisions were made.
Jim, I think Baker City had fewer constraints…..as I remember running those damn stairs from downtown to the heights………
longshot
Pretty interesting bridge design. There must have been a cable for each tie? I would actually think this may have caused heavy localized stresses in the structure as the loads would have been carried by very few elements at any one time.
kenn
No cables in the bridge, support is by the verticle tension rods.