Historic Hood River
Wilson Reservoir?
4-9-2019
Notes
I did a double take when I looked at this April 1939 Alva Day image. Isn’t this the Wilson Street Reservoir? It’s pretty well hidden behind Arborvitae now, but I’m pretty sure that’s the same building. Zoom in to the slot between the garage and the arborvitae and you’ll see.
Ben
Good eye!
Norma
If this was the Wilson Reservoir then what was the name of the reservoir that was located on May Street between 2nd and 3rd Streets? It was dry when we were kids and the neighborhood fathers built a ball park for us. Since then the hillside along May Street has been leveled and it is now Wilson Park.
Arthur
Doh! Good point Norma, Wilson Reservoir was on the site of Wilson Park. So what is the name of this city drinking water reservoir on Wilson Street?
nels
Wilson Park seems to be named after a pilot who was especially involved with the neighbor kids. Norma, maybe you know something about him?
Arthur
I don’t know the story about a pilot. Joe Wilson built a reservoir at the end of May Street in 1904 to provide water power to businesses downtown. Wilson Park is on the site of the old reservoir, so I assumed it was named for him. A scout leader told me it was a scout project in the 1960s or 1970s that turned the site into a park. Hopefully someone can confirm or correct this theory.
nels
Maybe check out the plaque at the park.
Norma
When I lived in the neighborhood there was a large concrete structure at 2nd and May. I was told the water was for the AGA. As my grandfather was one of the founders of AGA the house where my grandmother and her daughters lived next door had access to the water. My aunt had a very large garden and I remember she had little ditches that watered the garden. She would use a hoe to close off some ditches and divert the water to another area of the garden. She furnished our family with vegetables all summer. Loved the raspberries and some of those vines still survive at my brother’s house.
nels
Thanks Norma.
Dave
Just east of the PP&L substation off Union St there was a concrete structure that fed water into a wooden pipeline that ran to the reservoir at Wilson park. As I grew up at 7th & Pine I basically spent my youth on that pipeline. Parts are still visible from the Indian Creek Trail between 7th and the end.
Arthur
I asked the city, who owns this reservoir, what they call it. They said they call it the Wilson Reservoir because it is on Wilson Street. Funny, Hood River also had two Waucoma Parks for a while. The park at State and 13th was named Waucoma Park, but no one remembered the park at 9th and Montello was also called Waucoma Park. That was rectified by renaming the State and 13th Park "Tsuruta Park" in honor of our sister city in Japan.
I think I’ll continue to refer to this as the "Wilson Street Reservoir" so at least I know I’m not talking about Joe Wilson’s reservoir on May Street.
Jeffrey W Bryant
Article on Joseph A. Wilson and the Wilson reservoir and power plant.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn97071110/1918-03-21/ed-1/seq-6/
Jeffrey W Bryant
The Sanborn insurance maps show the reservoirs. Here is the one for 1916
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4294hm.g4294hm_g073801916/?sp=1&st=image
Jeffrey Bryant
Cleaning of the AGA Reservoir.
https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn97071110/1924-05-29/ed-1/seq-9/