Historic Hood River
S.J. LaFrance Store
1-2-2019
Notes
This one is a little confusing because it didn’t last very long. It is the S.J. Lafrance Store. The Hood River Glacier indicates it was at the corner of Second and Oak, perhaps on the SE corner. You may recall that was the location of the LaFrance residence. In April 1900 he sold his store to G.F. Coe & Son.
Note the “Union Laundry” sign above the door. Advertisements in the Glacier indicate they had a pickup from the Union Laundry Company every other week.
Bill Seaton
It seems to me that you would not see shadows like that on the south side of the street.
L.E.
That hole under the porch makes me think, "a good place for skunks to hibernate".
Arthur
I think Bill has a good point. Based on the shadows and also the apparent grade, I now suspect this is the NW corner of 2nd and Oak, not the SE corner. We’ll have to find some more evidence to confirm. The Sanborn maps are inconclusive. The buildings on the 2nd and Oak corners changed significantly in this period.
cg
Was 2nd St. more of a main street down to the water front then? To the right of the entrance looks more "store front" than the one that would be facing Oak if building was on NW corner.
Seems like Hood River has now come full circle with dry cleaning/laundry collected locally and sent elsewhere (haven’t yet utilized the service but think that’s what I read about new business on the Heights).
Arthur
2nd Street was access to the railroad station as well as the steamship landing beyond. From the earliest days 2nd Street and Oak Street have been to two primary axes of Hood River’s urban "plan". They are considered the key "view corridors" to present-day planners.
Arthur
I’ll add that 2nd Street was platted at 80-88′ wide while all the other streets were 60′, except for State Street (also 80′).