Synopses & Reviews
A History of Northwest Portland: From the River To the Hills, lets you experience the beginning of Northwest Portland. Featuring many previously unpublished photographs showing the early days when the muddy streets were filled with horse-drawn wagons, the harbor wharves welcomed sailing ships carrying goods and immigrants, and the waterfront teemed with lumber mills, manufacturing plants, businesses, saloons, hotels and boarding houses. Meet the early homesteaders and entrepreneurs; and watch while the horse-drawn trolleys open up the hillsides for communities "with a view".
A History of Northwest Portland reveals how this riverfront land, rich in trees, creeks, and lakes, was transformed into the thriving and vibrant district of unique neighborhoods we know today. Learn about the origins of these neighborhoods: Nob Hill, Slabtown, Old Town, the Alphabet District, the Industrial District, and the Pearl, and how they they received their names.
Read about the Lewis and Clark World's Fair; the Vaughn Street Ballpark; the shanghaiing of sailors; and, the rich mixture of pocket immigrant communities of Germans, Jews, Greek, Irish, Scandanavian, Chinese, Croatian, Japanese, and African American communities. Learn how a hillside was moved to turn a lake into an industrial district and how landslides saved a park from development. Travel back to the days when streets were named with letters, and the term "North End" referred to Northwest Portland.
About the Author
Jane Comerford, a native of Portland, moved to Northwest in the early 1970s, though her family's roots in NW date back to the 1880s. She is a retired community college administrator. Her previous book,
At the Foot of the Mountain: An Early History, on the beginnings of the coastal towns of Manzanita and Neahkahnie, is carried in libraries, historical societies and bookstores and graces the coffee tables of most homes in those communities.
Giuseppe Lipari, is a transplanted New Yorker who attended Parsons School of Design, and now lives in Portland. Prior to designing A History of Northwest Portland, he also designed At the Foot of the Mountain: An Early History.