In this edition: OPB Oregon Experience – Road to Statehood, Garden Home Extension Group gavels, 1953 Community Church parsonage consecration, more historic names for local Garden Home streets, Remember series entry, Discover Garden Home series entry, April 2021 Gazette.
OPB Oregon Experience – Road to Statehood
We enjoyed the recent OPB Oregon Experience program on Oregon’s Road to Statehood. You can watch it free online on the OPB website.
OPB – Road to Statehood
News from May, 2021
Garden Home Methodist Church gavels 1955
Thanks to our local Garden Home Extension group for their donation of two vintage gavels to us. Otto Arndt gave these gavels to two mission groups at the old Garden Home Community Church. You may recall that Otto lived across from the church, on Garden Home Road. His daughter also gave us his excellent aerial photos of Garden Home.
The Garden Home Extension Study Group has been meeting for over 55 years. Oregon State University sponsors the Extension Program, which is available through the Land Grant College funds for the State of Oregon. They have sent the year’s curriculum to the organization for the officers to then select those subjects of most interest to the local members.
Four lessons that have been selected by the Garden Home Extension Group for 2021 are:
- The Night Janitor” about our brain as we sleep;
- Medical Cannabis…Benefits & Ill Effects;
- Ireland, Green, Clean, Moist and Windy;
- and (my favorite) It’s All About Me…Writing Your Personal History.
They will also host a summer picnic and an outing. For more information or wish to participate, please call Diana Anderson, 503-992-6946.
Old Community Church Parsonage Consecration, August 16, 1953 – cover
Old Community Church Parsonage Consecration, August 16, 1953 – inside
Old Community Methodist Church
This church was located on the south side of Garden Home Road at SW 71st. The one hundred year old bell that was hung in the belfry there in 1918 now hangs in the grocery store and will be part of the new store. Many churches of this era wanted their ministers to live near nearby and thus worked to fund and develop a parsonage. This is the church program that the Garden Home Community Church used for the Consecration of the Parsonage on Sunday, August 16, 1953. The minister Reverend John Woods and his wife and four children used the new parsonage.
Judge Erasmus Shattuck
SW Shattuck Road sign
SW Shattuck Road (north off of Vermont at SW 65th): Judge Erasmus D. Shattuck was born in 1824 and raised in Vermont. He excelled in school, taught Latin and mathematics and then went on to study law in offices in Atlanta and New York where he passed the bar. With his new wife, Sarah Armstrong, they came to Oregon by boat, via the Isthmus of Panama in 1853.
He entered local politics, education and public life, participating in framing the Constitution of the State of Oregon. As a judge in the Oregon Supreme Court, he also served on the City Council and was an early trustee of the Portland Library. In 1872 he purchased land from the Patton estate “to establish a country estate for his later years.” Shattuck Station was a stop for the Red Electric which was on his property north of Vermont St., associated with a major train wreck in May of 1920, one-hundred years ago. (The Oregon Electric ran through Garden Home.)
Upon his death, Harvey Scott, Morning Oregonian editor, wrote: He is a studious reader, a profound thinker, and an earnest and logical talker. How aspirational!
*Illustrated History of the State of Oregon, Chicago, Lewis Publishing Co. 1893.
*Ancestry. *National Register of Historic Places, under Ole Oleson.
Scholls Ferry Tales book cover
SW Scholls Ferry Road sign
SW Scholls Ferry Road: In 1847, Peter Scholl was an early settler in the area now called Scholls, southwest of Garden Home. He “built a raft of cedar logs and operated it as a ferry across the river. The raft was operated by human power, having been pulled across the river by rope. This later developed to be Scholls Ferry—one of the most prominent ferries on the Tualatin River for many years.” It took the people of Scholls three days to take produce to Portland, traveling in groups of 3 to 5 wagons to cut and dig roadway as needed.
*Scholls Ferry Tales by Margaret Hesse, published by Groner Women’s Club, Scholls, Oregon 1976.
Mt St Helens eruption May 18, 1980
Remember the Big Blast 41 years ago, Mt. St. Helens major earthquake May 18, 1980. Killed 57 people.
Beaver dam at Hideaway Park, April 2021 (photo Kevin Mistler)
Look for the beaver dam on Woods Creek just as you enter Hideaway Park (drive carefully at entrance). Note the chewed trees and backed up water. A tributary of Fanno Creek, Woods Creek, goes under Oleson and merges with Fanno Creek inside the Portland Golf Club. Fanno Creek crosses the Fanno Creek Trail near SW 86th Ave. We will update you with more information later.
Help us find the funny, interesting, or historical places in Garden Home for drive-by or walk-by enjoyment to feature in Discover Garden Home. Take some photos and send them to us at GardenHomeHistory@gmail.com. Each month, we will publish a new Garden Home destination to discover!
April 2021 Newsletter
Page 1 – GHHP Gazette – April 2021
Page 2 – GHHP Gazette – April 2021
Page 3 – GHHP Gazette – April 2021
Page 4 – GHHP Gazette – April 2021
Recent Events
Thanks to a generous donor, our special 10th Anniversary Gazette was printed and postal mailed to our entire list of subscribers. Thanks for the many nice comments about receiving this printed Gazette which was postal mailed to almost 400 families for whom we have home addresses. We print and mail our three or four Gazettes each year to those families who have paid an annual $10 for this service. All Gazettes are on our website under Newsletters.
To receive The Garden Home History Gazette and our Updates by email, send us an email at gardenhomehistory@gmail.com, and ask to receive it. It’s free! Or, you can subscribe to the printed editions of the Gazette by US Mail for $10 per year.
GHHP Gazette – December 2020 (PDF)
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 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. 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 