Category Archives: People

Photos from the Five Oaks Museum

We recently acquired a trove of historical photos of Garden Home courtesy of the Five Oaks Museum (formerly the Washington County Museum). We’re still working on stories for some of these photos, but we’re too excited about them to not … Continue reading

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T. E. Hills (U.S. Civil War veteran)

The name of Mr. T.E. Hills comes up in various accounts of early Garden Home. He lived in the older two-story blue house (Dickson home) on Oleson Road at Shirley Lane, 7730 SW Oleson Road, back in the early 1900s. His … Continue reading

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Dorothy McNamara Bastien and her writing group in Garden Home in the 1940s.

Dorothy McNamara Bastien, 1906-1985, and her husband Clarence lived in Garden Home in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Their home is now painted yellow and blue and is the first single family home, 7665 SW Oleson, south of the intersection, … Continue reading

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Don Krom memoir

My parents were George and Harriet McNamara Krom.  My family moved from Wisconsin to Garden Home in 1946 when I was 3 years old.  We bought the house on 7 acres of fruit orchard which was located on the NE … Continue reading

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Lumen H. Nichols and Ann M. Nichols

See The Nichols Store. The circa 1890s photo of the first general store and post office in Garden Home shows Mr. Lumen H. Nichols standing against the picket fence. The building has a cough remedy poster and a typical “Wanted” … Continue reading

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Miles Lowell Edwards, Heart Valve Inventor

The long low industrial building at 6611 SW Multnomah Boulevard, now the home of Power Plumbing, was formerly a research lab where the famed Starr-Edwards heart valve was developed by M. Lowell Edwards and Dr. Albert Starr. From the entry … Continue reading

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CENTURY HOMES: Sasha Kaplan and Matt Miner

Address: SW 76th Avenue Originally Built: 1910 Original Owners: Margaret and Peter Bettendorf Built in 1910, this house would qualify as an example of a suburban home built for a family at the turn of the century.  It is a … Continue reading

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Godwin Family

Jannette Godwin (Wassenberg now) married Jack Godwin and had three children in the 1930s: Jalene, Jean and Jim.  Jalene has been our source for this Godwin material and it is used with her permission. By Jannette Godwin Wassenberg,  2012  (wife … Continue reading

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CENTURY HOMES: Tom and Catherine Lekas

[Editor: Thomas Lekas passed in 2023. Read the obituary for Thomas Lekas.] Address: SW Hunt Club Lane Originally Built: 1910 Original Owners: Ambrose & May Warden Cronin The most recent home to be designated as a Century Home was the … Continue reading

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Memoir of Dorothy Lois Upchurch (1919-2009)

This story about the Upchurch family was sent to us by Dorinda Troutman, from her home in Hamilton, Montana.  Her mother Dorothy Lois Upchurch Hogue Bates was a teenager and young woman when her parents Theresa Boyd Upchurch and her … Continue reading

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