Historic Hood River

Notes

This nice view of the Wau-Gwin-Gwin Hotel is from about 1910.  Robert Rand built the 20 room hotel about 1904, and it operated until the construction of the Columbia Gorge Hotel by Simon Benson in 1921.  I believe the marshy area is from the impoundment of Phelps Creek just before it plunges over Wau-Gwin-Gwin Fall into the Columbia River.

I cropped this tightly so you can see some of the great detail.  In this period every large building had a ladder on the roof, and every sign ended with a period.  I like the rowboat sitting waiting for someone to paddle to the middle of the puddle.  This earlier view seems to predate the creation of this water feature.  It turns out there is a good story behind this pond:  this is a trout pond created by Robert Rand in late 1904.  You can read about it in this article from The Hood River Glacier.

It’s said steamer captains would toot their whistles as they passed the hotel to let the proprietor know how many guests he had to pick up at the landing near downtown Hood River.

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