In this edition: History of the Portland Golf Club, celebrating summer fun in early Garden Home, sale of the Alpenrose Dairy, and more.
Upcoming Events
Due to the current public health recommendations in response to the COVID-19 virus, we will not have slide programs until the Garden Home Recreation Center re-opens. We have interesting programs planned for the future. Take good care of yourselves.
Garden Home History Project 10th Anniversary
Thank you for your interest, participation, and support over the past ten years. We are looking back at some of our favorite stories and photos during this anniversary year. Please send your stories, photos and memories of Garden Home to GardenHomeHistory@gmail.com!
Check out these photos and stories about Garden Home summer fun!
The Hunt Club, “Memories of Horsing Around Years”
In her story about the Hunt Club, Patti Ransom Waitman-Ingebritson recalls:
We rode English style around and around in a large indoor riding arena. Bill would shout out instructions as we circled the ring putting our horses through their paces. On one occasion, I decided to switch my little stick/crop from my right to left hand and immediately got stick and reins tangled. [My horse] Airway took off and we raced around the arena, occasionally leaping over little fences not for our level of riding skill. As I rounded the gallery area, my father shouted instructions which I could not understand. Airway and I were making good time as we raced around the arena and by now everyone was shouting instructions. Read more…
Hunt Club track on SW Oleson Rd, viewed from the NE (Garden Home School in upper left of photo)
Baseball in Garden Home
In her story about baseball in Garden Home, Louise Cook Jones writes:
The Garden Home field was always busy. Second and third generation Garden Home folks found themselves on the field once more, with their kids and grandkids – coached by people who used to play ball with them when they were young.
One local baseball star was Jim Partlow. He and his wife Yvonne lived in Garden Home on Firlock Lane [today’s SW 78th Ave]. His children, Dede and Jim, went to Garden Home School. Jim [Sr.] had played for the Grant Generals in high school, went on to Linfield College and was on the all-American basketball team. He was drafted by the Boston Redsox as pitcher, but declined the baseball draft for the army draft. Read more…
Garden Home baseball team in the Sunset Basebase League. Uncle Duke Scherner (right front), Uncle Carl Rehberg (left rear) and Albert Erickson (center).
Courtesy Don Smith. See Don Smith story.
Letha (Kidd) Lane and daughter Jacki (Lane) Wisher
In her story about about growing up in Garden Home, Jacki Wisher recalls her summer fun at Alpenrose with her two Shetland ponies and pony-drawn cart:
People came from far and wide to fill the Alpenrose grandstands and enjoy the 4th of July Pageant for several evenings which included many costumes, wagons and ponies. They also enjoyed the Alpenrose Western frontier town buildings and other animals, all for FREE. One chapter of the Pageant portrayed each signer of the Declaration of Independence; the huge draw at the end of the Pageant was the awesome Fireworks for the 4th of July!
Jacki and the fifty or more kids participating in the extravaganza all stayed in large tents on the Alpenrose property. Their ponies stayed in the pony barns. They ate their meals in the Alpenrose owners’personal home. Carl and Virginia Cadanou’s home is still on the property. Read more…
Glory, the pony, with Jacki Wisher’s sister Kathy Lane as the driver with two neighborhood girls, Nikki and Mari. Probably 1964 or 1965.
History of the Alpenrose Dairy
Kids from Garden Home frequented the Alpenrose Dairy to participate in baseball, bicycle riding in the velodrome, go-kart racing, Dairyville shops, petting zoo, and annual July 4th extravaganza and fireworks display. Read more…
Quarter midget go-kart racing at Alpenrose (source: The Oregonian – 100 years of history at Portland’s Alpenrose Dairy)
New Stories
History of the Portland Golf Club
Established in 1914, the Portland Golf Club is a prestigious private golf club in the Garden Home/Raleigh Hills area. We’ve begun collecting photos and stories about the Portland Golf Club, we hope that you’ll share your stories with us.
The Portland Golf Club’s original clubhouse stood about where the 7th hole tee is now.
New vintage photos of Whitney’s Cannery
Shelly Bigley of the Old Market Pub and Brewery provided us with a large gallery of vintage photos of Whitney’s Cannery. To view the full gallery, see our story on Mark and Leona Whitney and the Whitney Cannery, 1950-1976. Thank you, Shelly!
Garden Home Road Safety Path
The bike and pedestrian path that runs along the north side SW Garden Home Road was built in approximately 1965. Prior to development of the walking path along Garden Home Road, children and others had to walk on the road, dodging cars and endangering their lives. It is remembered that one child was killed on SW Oleson Road. It took several years to fight for and win the approval to build the path. Read the story about the development of the safety path in our story on the Garden Home Road Safety Path.
Construction history of Garden Home School
Don Dunbar, former principal of Garden Home School (1968-1974), provided us with this very interesting diagram explaining the sequence and dates of the various additions to Garden Home School (now the Garden Home Recreation Center). Note the area outlined in black dotted lines is the location of the original school building that was built in 1912 and taken down in 1967. View photos of the school over the years in our work-in-progress story on the history of Garden Home School, 1912 to 1982.
Garden Home School – construction history diagram from Don Dunbar
1912 Newly constructed Garden Home School
The Garden Home junction of the Oregon Electric Railway
Read our story on the history of the Garden Home station of the Oregon Electric Railway to view our gallery of vintage photos of the station, including 1936 aerial photos that finally put to rest the exact location of the station. On the photo below, you can clearly see the station building on a raised platform (note the shadows).
1936 Army Corps of Engineers aerial photo – Garden Home Railroad Station detail
Garden Home train station – rear
Garden Home train station
1936 aerial photos of Garden Home area by Army Corps of Engineers – Update
We’ve updated our collection of six 1936 aerial photographs of the Garden Home area taken by the US Army Corps of Engineers to include detailed annotations of landmarks and road names. The annotated versions of the photos make it easier to get your bearings when viewing the 1936 photos.
SW Garden Home intersection and train station – 1936 Army Corps of Engineers aerial photo (annotated)
View the collection of 1936 aerial photographs
Colin Lamb and the history of Lamb’s Garden Home Thriftway – Update
We’ve added some additional vintage photographs and news updates to Colin Lamb’s history of Lamb’s Garden Home Thriftway.
Recent News
Sale of the Alpenrose Dairy
Smith Brothers Farms, a Seattle-area competitor, finalized a deal to purchase Alpenrose on Oct. 14, 2019. The deal did not include 52 acres of community space, where Alpenrose has maintained three Little League baseball fields, a velodrome track, 4-H Discovery Farm and “Dairyville” replica frontier town. Alpenrose will continue producing milk, cottage cheese, and sour cream at the dairy’s facilities on SW Shattuck Road.
Alpenrose Dairy from above
New display cabinet in the Garden Home Community Library
Garden Home Cooks! When the library re-opens, see our history display in the Garden Home Community Library: Garden Home recipe books by the Garden Home School’s Parent Faculty group, two recipe books from the Methodist Church, Isolda Steele and Shirley Bernard’s wonderful recipe books. The vintage kitchen appliances include the coffee grinder, churn, toaster, chopper and more!
May 2020 Newsletter
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 