1903-11-02 page 1 Morning Oregonian

While searching the University of Oregon’s 1846-2015 database of Oregon newspapers for interesting Garden Home stories, we stumbled across a tragic story on the front page of the November 2, 1903 Morning Oregonian (PDF) about a 1903 Halloween-night slaying near Bertha…on the Garden Home road.

[Editor’s note: we will be posting more about 1903 Halloween shooting death of Adolph Burkhardt and the subsequent capital murder trial and acquittal of Samuel Bauman. Until then, you can read about Samuel Bauman’s trial in the December 2, 1903 Morning Oregonian, page 10 (PDF). It appears that jurors in 1903 could question the witnesses. You can read about Bauman’s acquittal in the December 4, 1903 Morning Oregonian, page 14 (PDF) (see bottom of fourth column, Establish a Precedent). If found guilty, Bauman would have been hanged. Notably, the jury petitioned the judge to halt the proceedings because they had already reached a Not Guilty verdict.]

The account given by the prosecution’s primary witness suggests a route for “the Garden Home road” quite different from today’s SW Garden Home Road:

We went up the road from Corbett street, and walked slowly up the hill. We were going to Haywood’s house…on the Garden Home road…about three miles outside the city limits…near Bertha…

Curious about this other Garden Home road, we dug deeper and found that at various times in the past, the moniker of “Garden Home Road” was used for stretches of the north-south route of SW Patton Road, SW Shattuck Road, and SW Oleson Road.

The 1927 Metsker’s Atlas of Multnomah County (below), identifies today’s SW Patton Road as GARDEN HOME RD as it passes just northwest of Council Crest between SW Shattuck Road and SW Broadway Drive.

1927 Metsker’s Atlas of Multnomah County, page 20 (detail)

Unfortunately, the 1928 Metsker’s Atlas of Washington County (below) doesn’t label the roadways in the Garden Home area, but we can see the correct spelling of Nichols (referring to Lumen H. Nichols). Nichols Street, later renamed SW Garden Home Road, was named after Lumen H. Nichols, the first postmaster of Garden Home.

1928 Washington County Atlas page 4 (detail)

This story from the September 27, 1916 Sunday Oregonian, page 19 (PDF) describes the construction of the Wilcox Estate, located just off of today’s SW Shattuck Road:

T. B. WILCOX RESIDENCE, AT EDGE OF TUALATIN VALLEY, COSTS $100,000

Suburban Mansion, on Garden Home Road, to Be Completed by March – House Is as Modern as Any City Palace – Sunken Gardens and Paved Driveways Features – Landscaping Extensive.

Sep 27, 1916 Sunday Oregonian, page 19 detail

And then just two years later, we find this story from the September 29, 1918 Sunday Oregonian (PDF) about the donation of the Wilcox Estate on the Garden Home roadway for recuperating WWI soldiers. Today, the Wilcox home is known as Wilcox Manor and has been divided into multiple residential dwellings.

1918-09-29 page 10 Sunday Oregonian Wilcox Estate detail 1

1918-09-29 page 10 Sunday Oregonian Wilcox Estate detail 2

This detail from the September 10, 1922 Sunday Oregonian (PDF) identifies today’s SW Shattuck Road as GARDEN HOME ROAD. Note the location of the Wilcox property (on today’s SW Shattuck Road).

1922-09-10 page 6 Sunday Oregonian detail

This article from the September 23, 1919 Morning Oregonian (PDF) states:

Shattuck road should be called Shattuck road and not Garden Home road, declares the roadmaster, in spite of the persistence of some persons in so doing. There is a Garden Home road, he points out, stretching from Multnomah station to Garden Home.

1919-09-23 page 20 Morning Oregonian detail

This detail of the 1946 Pittmon street map of Portland shows the stretch of today’s SW Oleson Road south of the SW Garden Home Road/SW Oleson Road intersection, running to SW Hall Boulevard identified as GARDEN HOME ROAD. The stretch of SW Oleson Road running north from the SW Garden Home Road intersection to SW Vermont Street is labelled GERTSCH ROAD, presumably for the Gertsch family dairy situated north of the Hunt Club. Also note that the portion of today’s SW Garden Home Road west of SW Oleson Road is misspelled as Nicholas St instead of Nichols St. Other street names and map details in the Pittmon map differ from other maps from the 1940s.

1946 Pittmon street map city of Portland detail

In the maps we examined, SW Scholls Ferry Road has been consistently named Scholls Ferry Road, and led to the Scholls ferry over the Tualatin river, approximately where today’s SW Scholls Ferry Road crosses the Tualatin river at the town of Scholls, seven miles west of Tigard. The ferry operator, Peter Scholl, was related to the notable pioneer Daniel Boone, likely by Daniel Boone’s grandson, Alphonso Boone, who established Boone’s ferry. Boone’s ferry crossed the Willamette river near Wilsonville, and operated from 1847 to 1954.

Millers Ferry Road once referred to the route of SW Shattuck Road, SW Oleson Road and south towards the ferry over the Tualatin river operated by Christopher C. Miller beginning in 1853. Miller’s ferry operated approximately where SW Roy Rogers Road crosses the Tualatin River today. Today, Millers Ferry Road has completely disappeared from road maps.

From 1931 to 1933, the City of Portland undertook a massive street renaming and address renumbering project. Bertha-Beaverton Highway became SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway in 1937 (PDF, page 40-2). In Garden Home, avenue names were converted to numbers. For example, Westgard Avenue became SW 87th Ave. Nichols Street (sometimes called Nicholas Street) became SW Garden Home Road.

The detail below from a 1940’s Richfield Gas map shows the old street names of many Garden Home streets.

Richfield Gas Station map, circa 1940’s

Tom Shreve, March 2016