Historic Hood River
When Am I?
1-14-2013
Notes
What clues can you find to date this image of Hood River from the east side? Let’s see how tightly we can bracket the date.
The History Museum of Hood River County
Bringing the Rich History of Hood River County to Life
charlott
It was probably between 1912 and 1915, at least that is my guess.
charlott
I am gearing my ideas towards one building I see and after others comment I shall tell you why this is my guess.
AndrewB
Great shot! I believe the house on the far left is still there.
What is that big barn like building in the foreground? Saw Mill?
l.e.
I’m going to guess June 1915.
l.e.
Arthur, when you finally decide to give us the date, could you tell us what the big white building is on the left.
It looks like a meeting hall of some sort.
Scott Cook
Fabulous Arthur, I Love the pic! Is the building were our "Ruins" come from??
cheers from New Zealand, scott
Arthur
I believe the large white building on State Street is the AGA cold storage and warehouse (long gone). I’m not sure what the shed building is below the level of the railroad tracks– nothing appears on the insurance maps in what they label "lowlands". Logging related is a good guess since it is in the floodplain. The large multistory building in the middle is the Fashion Garage, which is one hint to the date.
Arthur
And I think the cannery which became "the ruins" isn’t built yet.
l.e.
Looking up HR cold storage I came across this 1912 article: I don’t know if it describes the above white building, and it is long, with lots of misprints, but I thought it was interesting. The author is describing coming into town from the east on the train.
"east of town and cross the Hood River bridge,
the traveler glancing from the window
sees the first of these great ware
houses, that of the National Apple
Company, a huge four-story, fort-like
building, with a storage capacity 01
125,000 boxes of apples. The four
story part of this structure Is 100×100
feet, with an extension for office
purposes, and shipping platforms of
30×40 feet, two stories high. The
plant Is located on a switch of the
Mount- Hood railroad, at the foot of
State street. At this point the railroad
level is SO feet below the street, and
the National Company has taken ad
vantage of this situation and built a
loading platform from the floor of its
third story to the sidewalk line, and a
wagon load of boxed apples can be
backed up to the doors of the third
story, transferred to the elevators and
carried either up or down. This scheme
saves a great deal of handling and
time and is also an architectural ad
dition to the building, as it breaks the
monotonous front on the street side
which faces a number of residences."
l.e.
This is the link, and he goes on to describe the Davidson building and the AGA building along the track.
http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1912-10-06/ed-1/seq-64/ocr.txt
charlott
Okay you see both the hotels……………why I say what my guess is that the brick hotel was not built until 1912.
AGA was organized in 1913
Arlen Sheldrake
No clue on date question but really like the RR bridge structures and log raft.
Bill P.
The National Cold Storage Building was what we would call today "labor abuse of children". We were requred to use hand labor of handling both packed fruit and loose fruit in both receiving and shipping or transfer to the cannery. The conveyor system was very limited. There was a retail outlet store facing State street. The bulding was unique in that it was insulated with sawdust, which absorbed moisture over time and I am sure the it lost it’s insulating quality. I was always supprised that it didn’t burn down in those days. Life was interesting during WW II for kids in HR.
Arthur
Dating this image is surprisingly hard. Despite its fine resolution– I can zoom in right to the street level– there is not a single vehicle present. No cars, no wagons, no horse, no people. So we’re left with architecture. As Charlott rightly points out the annex to the Mt. Hood Hotel was built 1912-13, so that’s a start date. The Fashion Garage burned in 1929, so that’s a definite end date. I can’t get any tighter with certainty, though it appears the cannery was not yet built down by the tracks. If that’s the case, then it would predate 1916, when the cannery appears on the insurance maps. So I’ll declare Charlott and l.e. correct with the date of June 1915, though I can’t rule out 1913 or 1914 either.