The Great Fire of 1873 was a major fire which swept through the downtown of Portland, Oregon on August 2, 1873, destroying twenty-two blocks on the west side of the Willamette River, including along Yamhill and Morrison Streets. A mix of mansions, tenements, and commercial property were destroyed. Many businesses were not insured, and many others were only partially insured. [1]
At 4:20 am on morning of August 2, 1873, a fire started on First Street near Taylor, [2] at the Hurgren & Shindler furniture store. Fueled by the oils and varnishes in the store, the fire burned hot and spread rapidly. [3] By 4:40 am, just twenty minutes after its start, the fire had spread a block and the nearby Metropolitan Hotel was a complete loss. The Portland volunteer fire department responded along with fire companies from Salem, Vancouver, and Oregon City. Salem's fire company came 52 miles by train within 57 minutes. [4] When the Salem department arrived seven blocks had been consumed but they were able to stop the northern progress of the fire. The wind, however, spread the fire in all other directions and soon twelve blocks were engulfed in flames and the city water supply was failing. As the other departments arrived there were only a total of 7 engines to contend with a fire half a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide. As fast as the fire could be suppressed in one direction, it would break it in another. The fire finally stopped on its own due to lack of material to burn. [2]
Among the losses were 2 Engine Houses, 2 Sash Factories, 3 Foundries, 4 Mills, 5 Hotels, 100 retail stores, and 250 dwellings. 150 families were homeless and encamped on the city park. [2] One estimate for the economic impact of the fire is that the fire caused $1.3 million in damage. [3] Mayor Henry Failing chaired a relief committee and put in $10,000 himself.
The city "shunned" financial aid offered from San Francisco and the East Coast, and instead used local resources. Rebuilding was delayed by the Panic of 1873, then was in "full swing" by 1878. [4]
The downtown area shifted to the west after the fire. [5] The present-day Portland Yamhill Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, includes the northern part of the 22-block area. One surviving building is the Northrup and Blossom-Fitch Building (1858) from before the fire. The district includes 17 Italianate-style buildings built between 1878 and 1887. [4]
In December 1872, 8 months prior, there had been another fire which started in a Chinese laundry facility on the waterfront along Front Street. This fire destroyed several blocks in the areas of Front and Morrison streets. The official cause of the 1873 fire is undetermined, however many people of the time believed it was started by anti-Chinese arsonists. The areas of the 1872 fire had yet to be rebuilt and acted as a buffer for the fire of 1873. [1]
Salem is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk counties, and the city neighborhood of West Salem is in Polk County. Salem was founded in 1842, became the capital of the Oregon Territory in 1851, and was incorporated in 1857.
Forest Grove is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States, 25 miles (40 km) west of Portland. Originally a small farm town, it is now primarily a commuter town in the Portland metro area. Settled in the 1840s, the town was platted in 1850, then incorporated in 1872, making it the first city in Washington County. The population was 21,083 at the 2010 census, an increase of 19.1% over the 2000 figure (17,708).
Sheridan is a city in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. Platted in the 1860s when it received a post office, the city was incorporated in 1880. A major fire burned much of the city in 1913, and a flood covered much of the city in 1964. The population of the city as of the 2020 Census was 6,100, a decrease from 6,127 at the 2010 census.
Willamina is a city in Polk and Yamhill Counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. The population was 2,239 at the 2020 census.
Mall/Southwest 4th Avenue and Mall/Southwest 5th Avenue were a pair of light rail stations in Portland, Oregon, United States, served by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system. Built into the sidewalks of Southwest Yamhill and Morrison streets between 4th and 5th avenues in downtown Portland, the Mall stations were the 22nd and 8th stations eastbound on the Blue Line and the Red Line, respectively. For just over five years, they were also served by the Yellow Line from May 2004 to August 2009. MAX began operating in 1986 without stations at this location to make way for the Morrison Street redevelopment project. The stops were infilled upon the completion of Pioneer Place in 1990. In March 2020, TriMet closed the stations in an effort to speed up MAX trains in downtown.
Library/Southwest 9th Avenue and Galleria/Southwest 10th Avenue are light rail stops on the MAX Blue and Red Lines in Portland, Oregon. It was the original western terminus and is now the Eastside MAX line's first stop eastbound/last stop westbound in downtown.
Pioneer Square South and Pioneer Square North are a pair of light rail stations in Portland, Oregon, United States, served by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system. Situated directly west of the Portland Transit Mall on the perimeter of Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland, facing Yamhill and Morrison streets between Broadway and 6th Avenue, the pair are the 21st and 7th stations eastbound on the Blue Line and the Red Line, respectively. They consist of one side platform each as MAX operates in a one-way pair along this segment; trains traveling eastbound stop at Pioneer Square South while trains traveling westbound stop at Pioneer Square North. With connections to the Green, Orange, and Yellow lines, the Pioneer Square stations, along with the Pioneer Courthouse/Southwest 6th and Pioneer Place/Southwest 5th stations located one block east, mark the only transfer point in the MAX system where riders can board any of the five existing lines.
Meier & Frank was a prominent chain of department stores founded in Portland, Oregon, and later bought by The May Department Stores Company. Meier & Frank operated in the Pacific Northwest from 1857 to 2006.
Downtown Portland is the central business district of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found.
Pioneer Place is an upscale, urban shopping mall in downtown Portland, Oregon. It consists of four blocks of retail, dining, parking, and an office tower named Pioneer Tower. The mall itself is spread out between four buildings, interconnected by skywalks or underground mall sections. The footprint of the entire complex consists of four full city blocks, bisected by SW Yamhill and Fourth, bounded north-south by SW Morrison and Taylor Streets and east-west by SW Third and Fifth Avenues. In 2014, Pioneer Place was the third-highest selling mall in the United States based on sales per square foot, sitting just behind Bal Harbour Shops and The Grove at Farmers Market.
The Oregon State Capitol is the building housing the state legislature and the offices of the governor, secretary of state, and treasurer of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located in the state capital, Salem. Constructed from 1936 to 1938 and expanded in 1977, the current building is the third to house the Oregon state government in Salem. The first two capitols in Salem were destroyed by fire, one in 1855 and the other in 1935.
Henry Winslow Corbett was an American businessman, politician, civic benefactor, and philanthropist in the state of Oregon. A native of Massachusetts, he spent his early life in the East and New York before moving to the Oregon Territory. He was a prominent figure in the early development of Portland, Oregon, and was involved in numerous business ventures there, starting in general merchandise. His interests later included banking, finance, insurance, river shipping, stage lines, railways, telegraph, iron and steel and the erection of Portland downtown buildings among other enterprises. A Republican, he served as a United States senator from 1867 to 1873.
Saint Joseph is an unincorporated community in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. It is located about two miles west of Lafayette near Oregon Route 99W. The area is sometimes known as "St. Joe".
The Portland Yamhill Historic District, located in downtown Portland, Oregon, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Carroll Public Market, also known as the Yamhill Street Market, was a fresh produce market that operated for twenty years on the sidewalks of SW Yamhill Street between First and Fifth avenues in Portland, Oregon, during the early decades of the 20th century. The organizational structure of the market eventually included 212 stalls and over 400 vendors who offered pricing by negotiation. One writer characterized the atmosphere as "loosely organized chaos." The market was dissolved and replaced by the Portland Public Market in 1934.
The Yamhill River lock and dam was completed in 1900. It was built near Lafayette, Oregon, to allow better river transport on the Yamhill River from Dayton, to McMinnville, Oregon. While the Corps of Engineers had recommended against construction of the lock, it was built anyway, largely as a result of political effort by the backers of the project. For almost forty years prior to the lock construction there had been efforts made to construct a lock and dam on the Yamhill River.
Alice was a stern-wheel driven steamboat that operated on the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the 1870s and 1880s. Alice was the largest vessel built above Willamette Falls and was considered in its day to be the "Queen of the River". This steamer was rebuilt after near-destruction in a fire at Oregon City, Oregon in May 1873. In 1876, it was withdrawn from the upper Willamette River and transferred to the Columbia River, where it was worked as a towboat moving ocean-going ships to and from Portland and Astoria, Oregon, near the mouth of the Columbia River.
Portland Fire and Rescue Bureau, also known as the Portland Fire Bureau, and sometimes informally the Portland Fire Department, is the principle fire suppression, prevention, and rescue agency of the City of Portland, Oregon, United States. The department is the largest fire protection and emergency medical services provider in the state of Oregon, responsible for an area of 151 square miles (390 km2), with a population of over 632,309. Oversight of Portland's bureaus shifts among the five City Commissioners. Currently Mayor Ted Wheeler has assigned the Fire Bureau to Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty.
Orient was a light-draft sternwheel-driven steamboat built in 1875 for the Willamette River Transportation Company, a concern owned by pioneer businessman Ben Holladay. Shortly after its completion, it was acquired by the Oregon Steam Navigation Company. Orient was a near-twin vessel of a steamer built at the same time, the Occident.
Naito Parkway is a major thoroughfare of Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was formerly known as Front Avenue and Front Street and was renamed in 1996 to honor Bill Naito. It runs between SW Barbur Boulevard and NW Front Avenue, and adjacent to Tom McCall Waterfront Park through Downtown Portland.