Portland Railway, Light and Power Sellwood Division Carbarn Office and Clubhouse

Last updated
Portland Railway, Light and Power Sellwood Division Carbarn Office and Clubhouse
Portland Historic Landmark [1]
Former PRL&P Sellwood Division Carbarn Office and Clubhouse north facade (2016).jpg
The former PRL&P Sellwood clubhouse in 2016
Portland map.png
Red pog.svg
Location of Sellwood Division Office in Portland
USA Oregon location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Portland Railway, Light and Power Sellwood Division Carbarn Office and Clubhouse (Oregon)
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Portland Railway, Light and Power Sellwood Division Carbarn Office and Clubhouse (the United States)
Location8825 SE 11th Avenue
Portland, Oregon
Coordinates 45°27′32″N122°39′19″W / 45.458909°N 122.655321°W / 45.458909; -122.655321 Coordinates: 45°27′32″N122°39′19″W / 45.458909°N 122.655321°W / 45.458909; -122.655321
Area7,914-square-foot (735.2 m2) interior on a 0.4-acre (0.16 ha) lot
Built1910
Architectural styleIndustrial
NRHP reference No. 02000670
Added to NRHPJune 20, 2002

The Portland Railway, Light and Power Sellwood Division Carbarn Office and Clubhouse, also known as Carmen's Clubhouse, in southeast Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon, is a former commercial transportation building listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Built in 1910 by the Portland Railway, Light and Power Company (PRL&P), it was added to the register in 2002. [2] The structure was associated with Portland's street railway and interurban system of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Contents

Employees of PRL&P's transit division often worked 365 days a year and were expected to perform a variety of tasks including selling tickets, collecting fares, operating and cleaning streetcars, and writing reports. The clubhouse offered a few amenities for these workers. Although the first floor of the two-story building was used mainly for the trainmaster's office, a lost-and-found department, and record storage, it also included three shower-baths and a toilet. On the second floor were billiard tables, a gin rummy table, emergency sleeping rooms, and a reading room with books, desks, and writing materials. The furnace was in the basement, which also contained a toilet and a set of safe deposit boxes. [2]

History

The Sellwood Division clubhouse, carbarns, and power plant were part of Portland's interurban and city trolley system. After this system was expanded in 1889 from downtown Portland across the Willamette River on the Steel Bridge to Albina, it was gradually extended south along the east bank of the river. It reached Sellwood in 1892 and Oregon City in 1893. [2]

Sellwood, originally an independent city, became part of Portland in 1893. As population increased on the east bank, the line's ridership rose, peaking around 1915 when the Sellwood Division maintained 110 city cars and 30 interurban cars. By 1926, these numbers had dropped to 70 and 22, as economic conditions and commuter habits changed in the age of the automobile and bus. The trainmen's clubhouse closed in 1938; the last trolley ran in 1958. Although similar complexes were built for the Ankeny, Piedmont, and Savier divisions of the street railway system, [2] the Sellwood Division buildings and one building of the former Ankeny carbarn complex are the only surviving remnants of the eight carbarns that once served the Portland area's past electric railway system. [3]

The building's south side is still passed by tracks, a freight line now owned by the Oregon Pacific Railroad. Former PRL&P Sellwood Division Office and Clubhouse - from southwest, with track (2016).jpg
The building's south side is still passed by tracks, a freight line now owned by the Oregon Pacific Railroad.

In 1939, the United States Forest Service took over the building for use by the Civilian Conservation Corps and bought the clubhouse and the car barns three years later. Through 1984 it used the clubhouse for storage and as a forest pest research center. After vacating the building, the Forest Service used the adjacent property and outbuildings for storage through 1993, selling everything (with a protective historic-resource covenant for the clubhouse) to private owners in 1996. [2] Vacant until 2002, the building was restored, added to the NRHP, and turned into the home of the Dunthorpe Marketing Group. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

Willamette Shore Trolley

The Willamette Shore Trolley is a heritage railroad or heritage streetcar that operates along the west bank of the Willamette River between Portland and Lake Oswego in the U.S. state of Oregon. The right-of-way is owned by a group of local-area governments who purchased it in 1988 in order to preserve it for potential future rail transit. Streetcar excursion service began operating on a trial basis in 1987, lasting about three months, and regular operation on a long-term basis began in 1990. The Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society has been the line's operator since 1995.

Yakima Valley Transportation Company

The Yakima Valley Transportation Company was an interurban electric railroad headquartered in Yakima, Washington. It was operator of the city's streetcar system from 1907–1947, and it also provided the local bus service from the 1920s until 1957.

Pittsburgh Railways

Pittsburgh Railways was one of the predecessors of the Port Authority of Allegheny County. It had 666 PCC cars, the third largest fleet in North America. It had 68 streetcar routes, of which only three are used by the Port Authority as light rail routes. With the Port Authority's Transit Development Plan, many route names will be changed to its original, such as the 41D Brookline becoming the 39 Brookline. Many of the streetcar routes have been remembered in the route names of many Port Authority buses.

Pennsylvania Trolley Museum Railway museum in Washington, Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum is a museum in Washington, Pennsylvania, dedicated to operation and preservation of streetcars and trolleys. The museum primarily contains historic trolleys from Pennsylvania, but their collection includes examples from nearby Toledo, Ohio; New Orleans, and even an open sided car from Brazil. Many have been painstakingly restored to operating condition. Other unique cars either waiting for restoration or incompatible with the Pennsylvania trolley gauge track are on display in a massive trolley display building. Notable examples on static display include a J.G. Brill “brilliner” car which was introduced as a competitor to the PCC, locomotives, and a horse car from the early days of Pittsburgh’s public transit systems.

National Capital Trolley Museum 501(c)(3) nonprofit museum in Colesville, Maryland

The National Capital Trolley Museum (NCTM) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that operates historic street cars, trolleys and trams for the public on a regular schedule. Located in Montgomery County, Maryland, the museum's primary mission is to preserve and interpret the history of the electric street and interurban railways of the National Capital region.

Streetcars in North America

Streetcars or trolley(car)s were once the chief mode of public transit in hundreds of North American cities and towns. Most of the original urban streetcar systems were either dismantled in the mid-20th century or converted to other modes of operation, such as light rail. Today, only Toronto still operates a streetcar network essentially unchanged in layout and mode of operation.

The Mount Hood Railway and Power Company, also known as the Mount Hood Company, initiated hydroelectric development in the Sandy River basin in the U.S. state of Oregon in 1906. Its Bull Run Hydroelectric Project included a powerhouse on the Bull Run River, a tributary of the Sandy River, and a diversion dam on the Little Sandy River, a tributary of the Bull Run River. Water from the dam, which was about 16 feet (4.9 m) high, flowed through a wooden flume about 17,000 feet (5,200 m) long to Roslyn Lake and from there to the powerhouse. The company began using the powerhouse to generate electricity in 1912.

Pacific Electric Railway Company Substation No. 8 United States historic place

Pacific Electric Railway Company Substation No. 8, also known as the Altadena Substation, is a former traction substation in Altadena, California. It operated under the Pacific Electric Railway and served as the substation for Pasadena area lines.

Oregon Electric Railway Museum

The Oregon Electric Railway Museum is the largest streetcar/trolley museum in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It is owned and operated by the Oregon Electric Railway Historical Society and is located in Brooks, Oregon, on the grounds of Powerland Heritage Park.

Council Crest Park Public park in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Council Crest Park is a city park in southwest Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. Amenities include paved and unpaved paths, a dog off-leash area, picnic tables, public art, a view point, and a wedding site that can be reserved. The 43.51-acre (17.61 ha) park, operated by Portland Parks & Recreation, is open year-round from 5 a.m. to midnight. It was the site of an amusement park from 1907 until 1929.

Newton Street Railway Carbarn United States historic place

The Newton Street Railway Carbarn is an historic building located at 1121 Washington Street in the village of West Newton in Newton, Massachusetts. Built in 1890 by the Newton Street Railway Company, it is a rare surviving example of a wood-frame trolley car garage facility, a facility once common in areas served by electrified trolleys. The building has a long two-story central section with extended single-story wings. It has been extensively remodeled and modernized and is now a commercial building with a restaurant, grocery store, and offices.

Cazadero, Oregon Unincorporated community in Oregon, United States

Cazadero is an unincorporated historic locale in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. Cazadero was a station on the Estacada interurban railway line of the Portland Railway, Light and Power Company (PRL&P) and later Portland Electric Power Company (PEPCO), near where the power plant of the PEPCO-owned Cazadero Dam was located on the Clackamas River.

Portland Railway, Light and Power Company

The Portland Railway, Light and Power Company (PRL&P) was a railway company and electric power utility in Portland, Oregon, United States, from 1906 until 1924.

Maine Trolley Cars United States historic place

The Maine Trolley Cars are a group of 10 rail vehicles, mostly trolley cars, located in Kennebunkport, Maine. The cars were built in various years between 1893 and 1926, and the group was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 14, 1980. The trolley cars are a small part of the large collection of vehicles at the Seashore Trolley Museum. While the museum's collection of more than 250 vehicles includes ones from several different U.S. states and a few foreign countries, the 10 vehicles in the National Register listing were all operated in the state of Maine at one time.

Pacific Electric Sub-Station No. 14 United States historic place

The Pacific Electric Sub-Station No. 14 is a former traction substation in Santa Ana, California. It was built by the Pacific Electric Railway to provide electricity to run the railway's streetcars in central Orange County, California. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Astoria Riverfront Trolley Heritage streetcar line in Oregon

The Astoria Riverfront Trolley is a 3-mile (4.8 km) heritage streetcar line that operates in Astoria, Oregon, United States, using former freight railroad tracks along or near the south bank of the Columbia River, with no overhead line. The service began operating in 1999, using a 1913-built streetcar from San Antonio, Texas. As of 2012, the service was reported as carrying 35,000 to 40,000 passengers per year and has been called a "symbol" and "icon" of Astoria. The line's operation is seasonal, normally during spring break and from May through September.

Bay E, West Ankeny Car Barns Historic building in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

The West Ankeny Car Barns Bay E is a former streetcar carbarn in Portland, Oregon, that is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Completed in 1911, it was one of three buildings that collectively made up the Ankeny Car Barns complex of the Portland Railway, Light and Power Company (PRL&P), the owner and operator of Portland's streetcar system at the time. By 1978, the brick building had become the only surviving structure from the Ankeny complex and one of only two surviving remnants of carbarn complexes of the Portland area's large street railway and interurban system of the past, the other being the PRL&P's Sellwood Division Carbarn Office and Clubhouse.

Southeast Bybee Boulevard station MAX Orange Line station in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Southeast Bybee Boulevard is a light rail station in Portland, Oregon, United States, served by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system. It is the 14th station southbound on the Orange Line, which operates between downtown Portland, Southeast Portland, and Milwaukie. The grade-separated island platform station adjoins Eastmoreland Golf Course and Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden to the east and Westmoreland's park of the same name to the west. Its entrances are located on the Bybee Bridge, which spans Southeast McLoughlin Boulevard, the light rail tracks, and Union Pacific Railroad (UP) freight tracks and connects Portland's Sellwood-Moreland and Eastmoreland neighborhoods.

Hawthorne Boulevard (Portland, Oregon)

Hawthorne Boulevard is an east–west street in Portland, Oregon and the dividing line between multiple neighborhoods, although "Hawthorne" is often itself considered its own neighborhood. The street stretches from the Willamette River on the west,, and 92nd Avenue on the east. Mount Tabor blocks the street between 60th Street and 72nd Avenue. Hawthorne Boulevard is a principal street west of 50th Avenue and a residential street to the east. The most famous portion of Hawthorne Boulevard is between 29th Avenue and Cesar Chavez Boulevard which serves as a cultural hot spot for Portland's hippie movement. This section of the street is filled with local businesses, boutiques, restaurants, and gift stores, as well as the first Fred Meyer grocery at 36th and Hawthorne, and a bakery at 12th and Hawthorne. It the grocery closed in the 1930s. Hawthorne Boulevard is often compared to Haight Street in San Francisco due to the similar culture of both streets. The street is named for Doctor James C. Hawthorne, a politician and physician. Dr. Hawthorne donated land for the Oregon Hospital for the Insane near the modern day Colonel Summers Park in 1862. The Hospital for the Insane is often called the Hawthorne Asylum, and the street, originally named U Street, took on the moniker Asylum Avenue. The Asylum closed in 1883, and an ordinance was passed to rename the street to Hawthorne Avenue in 1888.

References

  1. Portland Historic Landmarks Commission (July 2014), Historic Landmarks -- Portland, Oregon (XLS), retrieved August 31, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Dodds, Linda; Dodds, Gordon (June 1, 2001). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Portland Railway, Light and Power Sellwood Division Carbarn Office and Clubhouse" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  3. Alfred M. Staehli (March 2, 1978). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form: Bay E, West Ankeny Car Barns" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  4. "Building History". Dunthorpe Marketing Group. 2012. Retrieved October 5, 2012.