Early History -- Lloyd Center -- The Gulch -- Neighborhood Association
Oregon Historical Society: Sullivans Gulch History
The Early History - Establishment of Sullivan's Gulch
The first people to settle claims on the land that is now the Sullivan's Gulch Neighborhood were William Irving, Jacob Wheeler and Timothy Sullivan between 1850 and 1852. Timothy Sullivan, for whom the gulch is named, farmed both north and south of the gulch. Most of his holdings were south of the gulch.
Today, most of the neighborhood lies in the Holladay Park Addition, though parts of the neighborhood lie in Holladay s Addition, Sullivan's Addition, and Irving's Addition. These additions were originally tracts of land in private ownership, and were platted, or sub-divided, between 1866 and 1887. In 1866, wheeler and others had some of their land platted for the new city of East Portland. The boundaries of that city, incorporated in 1870, were what is now Halsey Street on the north, 24th on the east, Holgate Street on the south, and the Willamette River on the west.
The same year the city of East Portland was incorporated, Ben Holladay established himself in the area. Ben Holladay was considered a transportation tycoon of his day - the railroad king. He came to Portland around 1868 after selling his stagecoach company to Wells Fargo. He was a loud, rude man who drank profusely. He had a blunt business style, part of which was to "buy" politicians. He was a controversial figure -- some felt his presence was a benefit to Portland, while others felt he was a selfish man who wanted to control the state. He was a powerful figure in town, and usually got what he wanted. Holladay controlled railroads all along the West Coast, owned all steamship operations in and out of Portland, and built Portland's first streetcar line.
In l870 Ben Holladay bought property, Holladay's Addition, in East Portland. He platted it into 61 blocks, and established the four-block park, Holladay Park. Holliday Park Addition immediately to the east of Holladay's Addition was platted in 1887 when William Irving's land also was platted.
When Holladay's Addition was platted in 1870, Ben Holladay had the opportunity to dedicate and name the streets which now run through the Sullivan's Gulch neighborhood. He named them Weidler after George Weidler, a business associate of Holladay's; Halsey after Holladay's New York aide, William L. Halsey; and Hassalo after one of his boats that operated on the Columbia River. Clackamas and Wasco are both Indian tribes and Multnomah is an Indian word.
The first public transportation to stretch east from downtown Portland to Holladay's Addition was the steam car in 1888. The line went up Morrison and Belmont. By 1889 a cable car ran across the new Steel Bridge, up Holladay to Multnomah and then along 15th going north. By 1918 there were electric cars across the Broadway and Steel Bridges, traveling as far east as 24th. The first sewers and paved streets came into the area in 1921. Until that time, all sewerage was dumped into the river.
East Portland and Albina were incorporated into the City of Portland in 1891. During the next 20 years, Holladay's Addition and part of the Holladay Park Addition grew into a neighborhood of large middle- and upper-class homes. The neighborhood was a popular place to live for prominent businessmen, lawyers, and politicians. Fifteenth Avenue was lined with beautiful mansions and was known as "Senators' Row." Some homes, identified as being of historic interest by the Sullivan's Gulch Neighborhood Association and the Portland Planning Bureau, still stand, including the residence of George Joseph, a prominent lawyer (1217 NE 16th) and the residence of Charles W. Fulton, a State Senator and lawyer (1936-38 NE Weidler).
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The Lloyd's - and the Lloyd Center
The Lloyd name has been well established in the Sullivan's Gulch neighborhood for many years. Ralph Lloyd worked in Portland for six years at a pipe company before he left for California to make a fortune in oil. In the 1920's Lloyd started buying up land on the east side of Portland and began to talk about his dream of building a fine hotel. By 1929 he owned 55 blocks and was still buying. In 1933 Lloyd proposed development of an office building, a baseball park and a store, to help the economy out of the depression. Portland was delighted with Lloyd's proposals and with his new dream of a shopping center. By 1953 Lloyd owned 100 city blocks - a large enough tract to build his shopping center. On August 1, 1960, his shopping center opened. It was the largest of its kind in the world.
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The Gulch - from Parkland to Shantytown to Freeway
The Gulch itself has a story all to its own. The Gulch was once filled with trees, a clear spring with waterfalls and a pool. The waterfall was near what is how 19th Street and was called Sullivan's Spring. It was a favorite picnic area. By 1894 the firs were harvested and the Union Pacific Railroad ran through the bottom of the Gulch.
In 1926 the Highway Commission revealed plans for a freeway in the Gulch, but some city commissioners urged that it be turned into a park area. No action was taken and later part of it was developed into a golf course by the Lloyd Corporation.
Between 1932 and 1941 the Gulch developed a town of its own, "Hooverville" or "Shantytown," where over 300 homeless men lived. By this time the Gulch was no longer used for picnics; the stream was stagnant and polluted. A fire in the Gulch destroyed most of Shantytown and in 1941, the last shack was torn down to prepare for a modern expressway. The freeway was finished in 1957 and, after much controversy, named the Banfield Freeway after the head of the Highway Commission instead of for Timothy Sullivan.
The Founding of
Sullivan's Gulch Neighborhood Association
An interview with Kathleen Todd (Mrs. David
N.) 2229 N.E. Clackamas St.
Interviewed by: Dr. Patricia Swenson -- March 30, 1999
It was in the spring or early summer of 1979 when Kathleen saw an article in the paper about neighborhoods. It was 2 pages on what Neighborhood Association were, what they were like, what residents were able to do if they were in a Neighborhood Association. There was a map printed showing all the Neighborhood Associations at that time. There was no association named for this area we live in.
Shortly before this article was printed, we ran across a neighbor who had been trying to get a low interest loan. We were not a Neighborhood Association, so no one could qualify for such a loan. Kathleen decided to talk to some neighbors to see what they thought about looking into forming one. The neighbors replied, "Sure go ahead, sounds find" The neighbors were Margaret Brownlee and Cindy Armold. So Kathleen went downtown to the Director of Neighborhood Associations, Mary Peterson. She told Kathleen how to go about it, how to get the neighborhood together to plan for this. Kathleen came back with all the information and met with Margaret and Cindy, and since Margaret knew Fred Meyer who lived on Clackamas St., they included him. The four of them met at Kathleen's and decided it was a good idea and they would go for it.
They planned for a meeting in June or July to see if others in the neighborhood were interested. Kathleen designed a flyer about neighborhood associations with the information she had gotten from the Office of Neighborhood Associations. . Cindy, Fred and Kathleen went around to the neighborhood's homes to advertise the meeting. Kathleen made copies of the city's questionnaire, which asked "What did they like or not like about the neighborhood? What would they like to work on' The Office of Neighborhood Associations had given her some samples to work from. They made copies ready for the meeting.
The meeting was held on Fred's front lawn and about 50 neighbors attended. Caroline Bax was one of them and since she was working part-time in the Planning Department, her input was very helpful.
Mary Peterson came to this meeting and gave a speech about Neighborhood Associations. The group present decided "Yes, they'd like to form a Neighborhood Association!" Out of this group there were about 10 volunteers who got together as a steering committee. Two new volunteers joined the original group, Bill Crain who lived on Wasco Street at 26th, and Maureen Herndon who was a renter on Multnomah.
The ONA (Office of Neighborhood Associations) had given Kathleen all kinds of sample By-Laws and other materials to show what the group had to do in its formation of an association. During the summer, this steering group worked on by-laws, officers, meeting dates, neighborhood boundaries and an association name. They decided they would hold the next meeting in the fall at grace Memorial Church.
When the group was initially discussing formation of a neighborhood association, they had asked both Irvington and Grant Park if either would like to annex them. Both refused.
At the fall meeting, elections were held and Fred Meyer was elected Chair, Kathleen Todd Vice Chair, Maureen Herndon Secretary, and Margaret Brownlee Treasurer. They passed the by-laws, set the boundaries and named the association. The boundaries were: from the south side of Broadway on the North to the edge of Sullivan's Gulch on the south; From N.E, 33'd on the east to N.E. 15~h on the west and on the edge of the L)oyd Center, but with a jog to include the area of Holladay Park in the S.W. corner. Despite the City's suggestion that the new Association be named either Lloyd Center, or Holladay Park, the Neighborhood stood by its choice: Sullivan's Gulch Neighborhood Association.
Within a year after this formation meeting, the City Comprehensive Plan came along with a zoning change for the neighborhood. With the City's map Caroline Bax provided, the Association could see the stiff challenge before them. The suggestion, or City's plan, was that instead of single-family residences throughout the neighborhood, high-rise developments would be perrnitted.
The Neighborhood Association sprang into action. They developed a Land Use Planning Committee headed by David Todd, and began to deliberate and plan what they thought could be submitted as an alternative to the City's high rise plan - one "that would have a chance of being accepted!" They decided they could not possibly win the fight against total high-rise development with a counterproposal that called for all single-family residences. So they created a three zone step-down plan and convinced the Association leaders to accept it. The plan was built around a gradual step-down in allowable height of buildings as one moved fiom the Lloyd Center into the residential hearts of the neighborhood.
The leaders accepted it, and immediately printed and distributed a newsletter throughout the neighborhood that included the map of the City's plan, a description of the three-zone Neighborhood Association plan, and a ballot. They then put up 6 or 7 ballot boxes throughout the neighborhood to collect the ballots, which asked, "Do you accept the City's plan or the Neighborhood Association 2-zone step-down plan?" The ballot results were used in the neighborhood's testimony before the City Council. The neighborhood leaders also invited the Mayor and the City Commissioners to come to the neighborhood and see their three-zone plan, which they did.
This zoning plan fight was the new Neighborhood Association's first project. The fight gave them the skills and strategies to know how to respond to City Council. After much deliberation, the City Council finally passed the Neighborhood Association's step-down three-zone plan which was as follows: high rise development was permitted on the western edge of the neighborhood closest to the Lloyd Center boundary, then for a few blocks east, lower heights were permitted west of N.W. 21st Ave., and finally, on the eastern side of N.W. 21st, what was labeled row house development was permitted along with the single family zone.
After the Council passed the plan, the developers who had been astounded by the decision in favor of SGNA besieged the Planning Bureau to revisit the new zoning designations. The Planning Bureau was not happy that they had lost on the plan they'd presented, so they were willing to listen to all the dire pleas of the developers who announced their livelihood had been threatened. The "revisiting" of the new three-zone step-down decision was to no avail. The Hearings Officer ruled that the decision would be upheld, not altered. No major revisions would be considered until the Comprehensive Plan's scheduled Five Year Review.
Sullivan's Gulch Neighborhood Association had become a definite entity in the City and had won its first battle. It was now prepared with skills for the battles that could come in this small neighborhood in the future.
Dr. Patricia L. Swenson, March 30, 1999