A lot of the sidewalks that were installed in Portland in the early 20th century were stamped with street names at corners, or with the name of the contractors who did the job. Many of those century-old stamps are still visible around town; in other places where sidewalks have been upgraded or repaired, the stamps were reproduced or redone.
As time goes on I plan to write a few posts about the stamps, about the various Portland street renaming episodes, and about whatever else may be tangentially related.
Other resources:
- Two great collections on Flickr:
- Here's my Instagram feed.
- A Brief Catalogue of the Origins of Portland's Street Names.
- City of Portland Historical Resources
- List of Street Name Changes (spreadsheet)
- OR GenWeb Portland City Directories
- 1874 list of Portland Additions (can help decode the street name database).
Thank you so much for your information. I am 4th generation Oregonian and love
ReplyDeletelearning info about my home. I may have missed the information in your resources, but I found this pdf that also lists info on certain street names and why they are named whatthey are. https://www.rcpna.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/The-Streets-of-Rose-City-Park.pdf
That one on 73st see is 73rd street southeast I used to see addresses listed that way all the time. I'll try to locate it again but there's one on se 72nd in that area that says 67th which explains a friend's apartment at 67xx see bybee that is east of 72nd
ReplyDeleteAt the corner of NE 37th and The Alameda, the same error appears on both corners: “TNE ALAMEDA.” (ELWOOD WILES 1911, who did the sidewalks in the Wilshire neighborhood, lived on Bryce St., one block north.)
ReplyDeleteOn the corner of 32nd Place and SE Salmon, the sidewalk stamp reads Glenn Ave, which was its name before the great renaming of streets. I’d be happy to upload a photo, if someone can share how that’s done.
ReplyDeleteHi Ellie: I do have a few Glenns on the map. Surprised I don't have that one, I've patrolled that area heavily! I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't updated the map in years, and I have dozens of photos I should add. Still, if you email or Instagram yours to me, and tell me if it's the SE or SW corner, I'll add it.
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