Welcome to our website about historic Garden Home. In the People and Places pages, you’ll find over a hundred stories and several hundred photos of vintage Garden Home and residents attending our events.

We’re beginning each regular meeting with a 30-minute history presentation at 6:30 pm at the Garden Home Recreation Center, 7475 SW Oleson, on the second Monday of the month:

• February 8 – Aerial maps of 1950s Garden Home, Tom Shreve;
• March 14 – Pat and Andy Dignan will present on the early horse activities and history of the Hunt Club area;
• April 11 -Virginia Vanture on the Century Homes program; and
• May 9 – Colin Lamb will present on the Thriftway complex history.

Patsy VandeVenter, Virginia Vanture, Elaine Shreve, Carole Vranizan

Get your Historic Garden Home t-shirt now for just $14 for small to XL. Larger XXL and XXXL sizes are $17. There is an additional charge of $9 to mail your shirt. They’re fun! Available at the Garden Home Library’s Community Store or by mail from Patsy VandeVenter, 7520 SW Ashdale Ct., Portland, OR 97223. We thank Jan Fredrickson for a very generous donation to cover the cost of printing the shirts.

What we’re working on: Century Homes program, monthly presentations, history-garden tour in June, Garden Home School/Beaverton High reunion August, Cemetery tour in September, 1949 earthquake, more stories and photos, t-shirt sales, aerial photos, Historic Garden Home street signs, newsletters, and more! We’d love to have you work with us. Call Elaine at 503-246-5879 or come to a meeting, second Monday of the month at 6:30 pm, Garden Home Rec. Center.

Kaplan/Miner Century Home (previously Bettendorf home)

We have identified Century Homes in Garden Home that were built before 1916. The program is meant to honor and appreciate the older homes in our community and the role they’ve played in our history. The home owners have been notified that they may participate in this program of a small ceremony of placing a Century Home plaque beside the front door and accepting a nice pamphlet with the history of Garden Home and their home. The two-story house on 76th now owned by Sasha Kaplan and Matt Miner was our first Century home. The owners would like more information on early residents of the home. The attractive plaque notes the age of the house and does not affect the sale or any changes in the property. Virginia Vanture has chaired this committee of Stan Houseman, Nathalie Darcy, Janice Logan and Ginny McCarthy.

Beaverton High School pre-1949

Beaverton High School Centennial: We want your memoirs! When was the 3rd floor removed?

Stan Marugg remembers the 1949 earthquake that damaged the third floor of the High School.

“I was sitting in one of our milk trucks I’d driven to Beaverton High School and was bouncing up and down during the quake. My dad said he had never seen concrete bend until then. He said it was like a wave moving through the concrete in the dairy barn.”

Colin Lamb, ’62, recalls that there was an unmarked door to the third floor steps.

“A ham radio station was located up there and we operated from that location. Richard Platt was in charge of the ham radio program. We also had access to the roof so we could install antennas. That was in the old days. Our power supply had about 2,000 volts open to whoever was stupid enough to put his hand on it and we did not worry about such minor details.”

The BHS Centennial committee has designated a process to honor certain graduates for their Hall of Achievement. To date, this includes Rod Harman (Harman Pool), and Ross Fogelquist. Lisa Sandmire wants stories and photos of Beaverton High and can be reached at bhscentennial@gmail.com. Click here for a related article by the Portland Tribune.

We are planning a Garden Home School and Beaverton High reunion on August 13 at the Rec. Center. More later.

Garden Home School from E

Donna Arndt Oliver has given us an outstanding collection of 21 aerial photos of the Garden Home area from 1949 to 1957 taken by her father, Otto Arndt. The family lived in Garden Home. We thank Donna Oliver for this gift and Bob Cram for digitizing these photos from the negatives.

Annual Meeting March 14, 6:30PM, Election of Officers: We are a non-profit association under IRS and Oregon regulations. Our by-laws require our annual meeting for March 14 at which time both the Chair, Elaine Shreve, and Treasurer, Marie Pacella, will make an official report in addition to election of officers. This 7 pm meeting will be preceded by the 30 minute presentation at 6:30 pm by the Dignans regarding the early horse activities and the Hunt Club era. Interested persons are welcome to the presentations and the meetings.

Remember the “yells” from your time at Garden Home School? When you’re a bit down, try this out! Do some action also!

Tear down the rafters, Stamp on the floor, Come on team let’s raise that score!

Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar. All for Garden Home, stand and holler!

We got the T E A M that’s on the B E A M, We got the team, that’s on the beam, That’s hep to the jive, Come on boys, let’s skin ‘em alive!

Boom-a-laka boom-a-laka, Bow wow wow,
Chick-a-laka chick-a-laka, Chow chow chow,
Boom-a-laka Chick-a-laka, Who are we? Garden Home Gophers, Yes sir-ee.

Our generous donors permit us to print and mail this newsletter ($140) for our non-e-mail people and for the GH Recreation Center. We also replace the Historic Garden Home street signs once for signs that disappear, current cost for each sign, $60. With our latest order, we’ll have about 35 signs out in our neighborhoods. We also have website costs, printing, paper, plaques and many other costs of an organization. Donor names are listed on our History Bulletin Board at the Recreation Center. Thank you to all of our donors and to all of our volunteers for their time and skills.

They are missed

Dr. Zola Dunbar, 1927-2015. Wife of Don Dunbar, Principal at Garden Home School.

Bill Winthers, 1925-2015. Principal of Garden Home School when it closed in 1982.

Leona Whitney, 1920-2015. See Whitney’s Cannery stories. Owned the cannery (now Old Market Pub) for 26 years until 1976 when it was sold to Frank Comella for a fruit and vegetable market.

Terry Moore, 1949-2014. Wonderful long-time community activist: Metro, THPRD, Oleson Road remodel, Chair of Garden Home Gardeners. We’re developing her story for our website.

We had a great time ringing the (loud!) 1918 historic bell from the old Garden Home Community Church. See our story and cute photos of the bell ringers.

Historic Garden Home street sign

Historic Garden Home street signs: We currently have about 35 of the Historic Garden Home street sign toppers in our community. Each sign was purchased by a friend or family member to honor their loved one. Click here to view photos of the signs and for information about sponsoring a sign.

Researching: The 1949 earthquake that damaged Garden Home School and the third floor of Beaverton High. What do you recall? Write us a note in the comment box or send us an email.