In this edition: March 11 presentation on website, moving the old post office safe, Rep. Schouten newsletter, and historical re-enactment events.
Welcome to our website about historic Garden Home. In the People and Places pages, you’ll find almost two hundred stories, and over fifteen hundred photos of vintage Garden Home and residents attending our events. Contact us at GardenHomeHistory@gmail.com.
Upcoming Events
Join us for our next meeting March 11, 6:30PM at the Garden Home Recreation Center. We will begin with a 30-minute presentation by Tom Shreve exploring our website and the variety of online resources available to research history in Garden Home.
Join us Monday, February 11 at 6:30 PM for a brief reenactment of the life of Polly Philena Oleson’s mother, Margaret Simmons Patton Mills Welch. We’ll all join in portraying the history of her trek on the Oregon Trail, her several marriages and numerous children. She lived an inspirational life as a pioneer in the late 1800s in the Beaverton area, Cornelius, Patton Valley and finally in Ridgefield, Washington. And, magically, one of her tasty garden treats will appear. All are welcome to attend this program.
Everyone is invited to stay for our monthly board meeting when we will review our list of “secret” Garden Home treasures and planning our next step! Also regular business, nominations committee, and plans for the year.
Garden Home Recreation Center, 7475 SW Oleson Road, Portland, OR 97223. Questions: 503-246-5879.
Recent News
Rep. Schouten February 2019 newsletter excerpt
Oregon State Representative Sheri Schouten featured the Garden Home History Project in her February newsletter. Thank you Rep. Schouten for your interest in our project!
Garden Home History was offered the historic safe from the old Garden Home Post Office location prior to the Post Office moving to its current location inside the Garden Home Market Place (formerly Lamb’s Thriftway). Huge, ugly, locked, no combination, 500+ pound block of painted iron, about 2 foot square and 3 foot tall on old steel wheels. We felt an obligation to find a home for this piece of our history.
Adam Martinez from the Garden Home Growlers offered a home for it, but we were at a loss on how to move a hunk of iron weighing over 500 pounds. Denny Parent answered a Nextdoor post from Stan. Denny owns a large crane truck! Tom and Stan coordinated the plan, Susan and I took photos, and my grandson Eric helped. We were all amazed with the arrival of this huge beautiful truck and our hero Denny Parent who managed the whole process perfectly. Friend Brian Fuller arrives at the store for broccoli, lends muscle to the final push and dashed back to his car for his floorjack, the last perfect tool to complete the job.
Come visit the safe at Garden Home Growlers, and have a cool one from the Growler!
We’d like to also thank Mike Babbitt of Garden Home Market Place and Shelly Bagley of the Old Market Pub & Brewery for their interest and support for finding a home for this historic Garden Home artifact.
On January 8, Reenactors from historical groups in Beaverton, Forest Grove, and Garden Home introduced the Denney family, A.T. “God Almighty” Smith, and Margaret Simmons from Patton Valley (the mother of Polly Philena Oleson). PatsyVandeVenter and Elaine Shreve presented as Margaret Simmons and her granddaughter Reta Welch. View the photos and read more about the event.
Thanks for stopping by our booth at the 34th annual Holiday Bazaar at the Garden Home Recreation Center on Saturday, December 1st. There were over 100 local art and craft vendors, live entertainment, holiday music, pancake breakfast and more!
We held a Veteran’s Day event on Saturday, November 10 at the Garden Home Recreation Center, with photos, interviews, historic displays, pie and coffee. Aloha Post 104, American Legion presented the colors. Sig Unander presented the slide show of Fly Gals, the story of the first American women military pilots in history, the WASPS who flew vital training and flight missions freeing up men for combat. Click here to read more about the event and to view the event photos.
Visit the spooky and humorous Garden Home Graveyard Halloween display on SW 82nd Ave by Kirstin Lurtz!
Garden Home Community Library: We welcome our new Library Director Molly Carlisle, who previously worked at the Tigard Library. You might enjoy many newly added vintage library photos in our story about the history of the community library. The library started out as a volunteer library once the Garden Home School closed in 1982, assisted by THPRD. It soon became part of WCCLS. Thanks to the many generous donors, we were able to enlarge from one classroom to two classrooms, the current size. Now we are excited about the plans to enlarge to one more classroom. Watch for our display of community history and news on the hallway walls.
Get Involved
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.
Our generous donors permit us to print and mail this newsletter ($140) for our non-e-mail people and for the Garden Home 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.
Garden Home History Project 