Kelso-Longview, Washington - Places by Robert D. West

THE OFFICIAL WEBPAGE

OF ROBERT D. WEST

Kelso and Longview may be the most historic cities in Washington. There is history all over these two cities, if you only know where to look.

My main resource for this page was R. A. Long's Planned City: The Story of Longview by John M. McClelland, Jr. This book can be purchased from the Cowlitz County Historical Museum. Other good references were HistoryLink.org: The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History, the Cowlitz County GenWeb Project, The Daily News, The Cowlitz County Assessor's Parcel Search, HistoricPhotoArchive.net and the websites of the cities of Longview and Kelso themselves. Historic photographs were photographed from informational kiosks at Commerce and Broadway.

Early History

Americans settled in Cowlitz County even before settling in Seattle. The first local settler was a Scotsman named Peter W. Crawford, who arrived in the 1840s. It was here that early settlers met at a settlement called Monticello, near what is now Longview, to draft a petition to Congress to create the Washington Territory out of the Oregon Territory, at the Monticello Convention of 1852. The convention was held in the home of Harry Darby Huntington. Local settlers who attended the convention included Peter Crawford and Seth Catlin. The convention was a success; Congress drafted a bill establishing Washington Territory, which President Millard Fillmore signed into law on March 2, 1853. This marked the beginning of the state of Washington. Washington became a state on November 11, 1889.

Monticello became the first county seat of Cowlitz County on April 21, 1854. The county seat moved to a town called Freeport, just upriver from Monticello near today's West Kelso, in 1865. The settlement of Monticello was wiped out in a flood in 1867. In 1872, with an influx of Northern Pacific Railway workers, the county seat moved to Kalama. After decades of trying, Kelso became the county seat in 1923. In January of that year, Freeport was wiped out by flood, clearing the way for a lumber baron to start a new city.

Historical Photos:

Freeport in 1873, from the University of Washington Library

But first, we will start with the older of Cowlitz County's twin cities.

KELSO

After taking a donation land claim here in 1847, Peter W. Crawford, a surveyor by trade, platted a city here in 1884 and named it Kelso, after his hometown in Scotland.

1. Kelso Commons Park

Southeast corner of Oak Street & South Pacific Avenue

This small park is located on the site of the first donation land claim. Peter W. Crawford took the land claim on December 18, 1847. Crawford would become one of the signers of the petition to make Washington a state at the Monticello Convention in 1852.

Eventually a bank was built on this corner, and it became a branch of the Seattle-First National Bank. The land was donated by the bank to the city of Kelso on August 28, 1972 for use as a park. Kelso Commons Park was dedicated on September 17, 1975.

In 1993, Kelso Post #3017 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars installed a memorial to soldiers lost in World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

2. Kelso Depot

501 South First Street

Rail service first came to Kelso in 1872, when the Northern Pacific Railway built north from a river connection at Kalama, Washington toward Seattle. This brick depot opened on February 12, 1912, replacing an earlier wood-frame depot built in the 1800s. By the early 1990s, the depot was locked up. Amtrak trains still stopped at the station, but there were no personnel at the station and passengers had to wait outside. Tickets had to be purchased in advance, either from a travel agent, or from another station with Amtrak personnel.

Historical Photos:

Passenger Train at Kelso Depot, August 21, 1972, from rrpicturearchives.net

Freight Train passing Kelso Depot, August 22, 1972, from rrpicturearchives.net

In September 1994, after years of neglect, a major renovation and restoration of the depot was started to turn the depot into a multimodal transportation hub for Cowlitz County. The renovation included the addition of a clock tower and putting a full basement under the depot, which had never had one before, to be used for retail space. The renovation was completed and the depot was dedicated as "Kelso Station" on September 23, 1995. Since then, the depot has become a Greyhound bus station in accordance with the multimodal plans, but the basement has never had a tenant and while Amtrak trains continue to stop here, no Amtrak personnel are assigned to the station. For a time it was possible to buy a Greyhound ticket but not an Amtrak ticket, but an automated Amtrak ticket machine has since been installed. NOTE: The clock tower does not have a permanent pointed spire on top of it; in the photo that shows it, it is a temporary holiday decoration (though I think it makes the clock tower look better).

3. Allen Street Bridge

The first Allen Street Bridge washed out in a flood in 1906. It was replaced that same year with a 600-foot bascule bridge of entirely wood construction. The bridge was renovated in 1915, but by 1920 was generally known to be dangerous. In 1922, construction began on a new steel Allen Street Bridge alongside the old bridge.

Historical Photos:

Fishermen on the Cowlitz River in Kelso, with the second Allen Street Bridge in the background, from the University of Washington Library

On the evening of January 3, 1923, the middle span of the old bridge collapsed under the weight of heavy traffic. Although nearby boats in the Cowlitz River rescued people, at least 35 people were killed. To this day, the Allen Street Bridge collapse is Washington's worst bridge disaster.

The 700-foot steel Allen Street drawbridge opened March 19, 1923, but with only two lanes it was found to be inadequate as traffic increased. Construction of the four-lane Peter Crawford-Cowlitz Way Bridge in 1952 only bought time. The above picture shows the first run of Amtrak's Cascades service, with the steel Allen Street bridge in the background, on January 11, 1999. This bridge is also depicted in its early days in the background of a mural on a building at the west end of the current bridge.

In 2000, a new four-lane concrete Allen Street Bridge was built and the old bridge demolished. The new bridge also crossed over the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad line, eliminating a railroad crossing, and required demolition of many old buildings in downtown Kelso. On Sundays in the summer, the Kelso Bridge Market is held beneath the bridge for local farmers and craft merchants.

4. Peter Crawford-Cowlitz Way Bridge

The four-lane Peter Crawford-Cowlitz Way Bridge was completed in 1952 to relieve some of the traffic congestion on the nearby Allen Street Bridge. Unlike the Allen Street Bridge, this bridge was designed to clear the traffic on the Cowlitz River without being a drawbridge. As a result, it also passed above the Northern Pacific (now Burlington Northern-Santa Fe) mainline. The bridge's name is a result of Longview and Kelso being unable to agree.

5. Cowlitz County Hall of Justice

312 SW First Avenue

The Hall of Justice was built in 1975 and contains virtually all Cowlitz County offices.

6. Kelso City Hall

203 South Pacific Avenue

The construction of the new Allen Street Bridge in 2000 required the demolition of Kelso's City Hall, among other buildings. This brand new City Hall was built alongside the new Allen Street Bridge as a replacement.

LONGVIEW

Robert A. Long

In 1850, a man named Robert Alexander Long was born on a farm in Kentucky. In 1875, at the age of 25, Long opened a lumber yard in Columbus, Kansas. By 1904, over 4,000 employees worked for his Long-Bell Lumber Company. As Chairman of the Board, Long directed the company's expansion into the west.

In 1919 and 1920, the Long-Bell Lumber Company purchased timber holdings in southwest Washington from Weyerhaeuser. In order to harvest this land, Long-Bell needed to build a new lumber mill in the area. In 1921, the decision was made to build a new mill on the Columbia River, near the point where the Cowlitz River emptied into it. Long-Bell acquired 14,000 acres of land, enough to build not only the world's largest lumber mill, but also a city large enough to support all of its employees. The city would be laid out in a classic European pattern, with boulevards stretching from a Civic Center. This design is similar to that of the cities of Paris and Rome. Longview was designed for an ultimate population of 50,000 people.

In May of 1922, a meeting was held at Long's estate, Longview Farm in Missouri, to plan the new city. Most importantly, a name for the city had to be selected. All of the suggested names included the word Long. Some of the suggestions were Long-Bell and Long Port. In the end, the name selected was the name of the very estate at which the meeting was held: Longview. There was only one problem; a small town called Long View already existed on the east side of Washington state, in Benton County, on the Columbia River across from Umatilla, Oregon. The Long-Bell Lumber Company contacted the people of the town to ask what they would like in exchange for changing their town's name. They agreed to change the town's name in exchange for $25 to build a shelter to keep mail bags dry after being dropped off from passing trains. The post office in the new city officially began going by the name Longview, Washington in January of 1923. Long-Bell's Chief Engineer Wesley Vandercook was the first postmaster.

This street scene from 1923 shows early construction along Commerce Avenue looking north from Hudson Street. The Columbia River Mercantile Building is visible in the background. Across from it is the Colonial Building, which served as Longview's first post office. In the foreground are the Title Building on the left and the Mt. Hood Building on the Right.

The city of Longview was dedicated on July 12, 1923, and was incorporated on February 9, 1924. Long-Bell's new lumber mill, at the time the largest in the world, opened at 10:30 AM on July 31, 1924. The mill was capable of producing 1,000,000 board feet of lumber every day. The mill was located on the Columbia River, between where the Weyerhaeuser mill and Longview Fibre stand today, and just east of where the Longview Bridge (now Lewis & Clark Bridge) would be built.

Aerial photograph of the Long-Bell Lumber Mill, with early Longview, Kelso and the Cowlitz River in the background.

Historical Photos:

Long-Bell Lumber Mill as it looked in 1924 from the University of Washington Library

In addition to R. A. Long himself, there were many people directly involved in the creation of Longview. Many of them would have streets or buildings in the city named after them. Some of these people included:

John D. Tennant: Long-Bell's 1st Vice President

Samuel Mark Morris: Long-Bell's 3rd Vice President

Wesley Vandercook: Long-Bell's Chief Engineer

Jesse Clyde Nichols: City Planner from St. Louis who led the design of the city

George E. Kessler: City Planner who worked under Nichols designing the city

S. Herbert Hare: Another City Planner who worked with Nichols and Kessler

A. Norman Torbitt: Architect who designed many of Longview's first buildings, including the Public Library and the Longview, Portland & Northern Railway Station.

This photograph shows the men who led the development of the Long-Bell Lumber Company's lumber mill in Longview and the new city alongside it. From left to right, they are W. F. Ryder, for whom the city of Ryderwood, Washington was named, Chief Engineer Wesley Vandercook, Vice President John D. Tennant, Vice President Samuel Mark Morris, Company Traffic Manager R. S. Davis and Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors Robert A. Long.

J. C. Nichols

George E. Kessler

S. Herbert Hare

The three city planners from Kansas City who designed the city of Longview as a personal favor to Robert A. Long were these three men: George E. Kessler, Jesse Clyde Nichols and S. Herbert Hare.

By 1930, most of the city was complete, at a cost of $50,000,000. Robert A. Long died in 1934, at the age of 84. International Paper bought out the Long-Bell Lumber Company in 1956. The main Long-Bell mill was shut down in 1960. The Cabinet Division and most other remaining workers were laid off in 1979. International Paper began demolishing the Long-Bell lumber sheds in the 1980s. The last of these sheds were demolished in 1996. Some of the large timbers from these sheds were used in the construction of Microsoft founder Bill Gates' home on Lake Washington. Long-Bell's old 21,000 square foot mill office building, known as the White House and built in 1937, was sold to the Port of Longview in 1998. The port leased it to Longview Fibre in 2004 for administrative use.

Now, lets take a look at R. A. Long's planned city, as it looks today.

7. Monticello Hotel

1405 17th Avenue

The Monticello Hotel, opened on July 14, 1923, two days after Longview's dedication, was the first building built in Longview. Robert A. Long knew that he would need a luxurious hotel in order to convince potential business investors to the new city. Originally owned and operated by Long-Bell, the Monticello was sold when the company faced financial problems, and has come close to closing multiple times in the years since.

This was not the first Monticello Hotel in the area. Before the Long-Bell Lumber Company came to Cowlitz County, Harry Darby Huntington owned a Monticello Hotel on the Cowlitz River. This original Monticello Hotel was destroyed in a flood in January 1923.

Historical Photos:

Monticello Hotel in 1924, from the University of Washington Library

8. Robert A. Long Park

Civic Center

This photograph shows Jefferson Square (now R. A. Long Park) and downtown Longview from the roof of the Monticello Hotel in 1926. The railroad station can be seen in the background at the far end of Broadway.

Robert A. Long Park, built in the center of the Civic Circle in 1923 in front of the Monticello Hotel, was originally called Jefferson Square and was intended to be the center of the city. The Long-Bell Lumber Company owned Jefferson Square until financial problems forced its sale. A Longview community group, raising money for a statue of Robert A. Long, ended up purchasing the park for the city to keep the park from being destroyed for development. Jefferson Square was rededicated in honor of Long on December 21, 1938. The park was placed on the National Register of Historic Places with the entire Civic Center on December 5, 1985. At each corner of the park is a historic monument tablet. Strangely, the sidewalks in the park all go behind these tablets, which face the street, so the only way to read them is to walk through the landscaping, or stop your car in front of them.

Historical Photos:

View from the top of the Monticello Hotel of Jefferson Square and downtown Longview in January 1924, from the University of Washington Library

A. "North To Olympia" Monument

The tablet at the northwest corner of the park bears a bronze relief by Alonzo Victor Lewis depicting oxen pulling covered wagons. It is titled North to Olympia and was placed by the Kiwanis Club of Olympia in July 1926. It bears the following inscription:

"NORTH TO OLYMPIA"

DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY

OF THE EARLY SETTLERS OF MONTICELLO

AND THOSE PIONEERS WHO BLAZED

THEIR WAY THROUGH TO OLYMPIA

"THE END OF THE OLD OREGON TRAIL"

ERECTED BY THE KIWANIS CLUB OF OLYMPIA

JULY 1926.

B. Catlin Memorial

The tablet at the northeast corner of the park is a memorial to Seth Catlin, another early settler of the area. This monument is not dated, but is very old, as the engraved letters have become difficult to read. The inscription reads as follows.

Dedicated to the memory of

SETH CATLIN

and his wife

AGNES REDPATH

who with their seven sons

crossed the plains in 1848

from Illinois.

Filed on a donation land

claim in 1849 of which

this marks the

western boundary.

Seth Catlin was active in

the conventions of 1851 & 1852

which led to the formation of

the Territory of Washington.

C. Huntington Memorial

The tablet at the southeast corner of the park is a memorial to the Huntington family, more early area settlers. It was placed here in 1949. It reads:

IN MEMORY OF

THE PIONEER HUNTINGTONS

WHO CAME BY COVERED WAGON

TO MAKE THEIR HOMES ON THE

COWLITZ

FIRST CAME HARRY DARBY HUNTINGTON

AND REBECCA JANE HIS WIFE

CROSSING THE PLAINS IN 1848 AND

FOUNDING MONTICELLO TWO MILES

SOUTH ON THE COWLITZ 1849~

THERE THE ONCOMING PIONEERS PAUSED

BEFORE CONTINUING BY CANOE AND WAGON

TO SETTLE TO THE NORTH. IN HIS HOME

WAS HELD THE 1852 CONVENTION WHICH

PETITIONED CONGRESS TO CREATE THE

WASHINGTON TERRITORY~

IN 1852 CAME~

JAMES AND MARIAH

BENJAMIN AND JERUSHA

JACOB AND SUSAN

WILLIAM AND ELIZA

IN 1854 CAME~

CHANDLER AND ARABELLA

PRESENTED BY

THE HUNTINGTON FAMILY

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

1949

D. From Plymouth Rock & Battle Creek to Longview

The most recent addition to the park is the monument at the southwest corner. This is a fairly recent addition, placed in August 1980. It includes pieces of stone from Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts and Battle Creek, Michigan, and a copper plaque which reads:

FROM PLYMOUTH ROCK AND BATTLE CREEK

TO LONGVIEW

IN HONOR OF LONGVIEW, A WORLD-FAMOUS AND IDEAL CITY, AND

THE MECCA OF MANY PACIFIC COAST TOURS, THESE STONES FROM

PLYMOUTH ROCK AND BATTLE CREEK (WHERE THE FIRST EDUCATIONAL

MOTOR TOUR IN HISTORY STARTED), ARE PRESENTED BY JAMES

H. BROWN AND THE PUBLISHERS OF THE MICHIGAN FARMER,

DETROIT, WHO HAVE CONDUCTED EDUCATIONAL MOTOR AND RAILWAY

TOURS FOR MANY YEARS OVER THE U. S. WITHOUT AN ACCIDENT.

OVER A MILLION MOTORISTS AND PEDESTRIANS HAVE TAKEN

THE PLEDGE BELOW, ORIGINATED BY THE TOUR MANAGER DURING THE

FIRST TOUR IN 1895, MANY OF THEM WILL VISIT LONGVIEW IN THE

DAYS AND YEARS TO COME AND RENEW THEIR PLEDGE AS THEY

LOOK AT THESE FAMOUS STONES AND ENJOY THE CITY'S HOSPITAL-

ITY AND SIGHT-SEEING.

THE PLEDGE: "I SOLEMNLY PROMISE, AS A MOTORIST AND PEDESTRIAN,

THAT I WILL ENDEAVOR TO BE CONSTANTLY VIGILANT AND COURTEOUS

AND FOLLOW THE GOLDEN RULE WHEN AWAY FROM MY OWN VINE AND

FIG TREE."

AUGUST 1980 THIS TABLET PRESENTED BY

THE DUPLEX PRINTING PRESS COMPANY OF BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN

E. Sundial

Near the center of the park is a sundial placed by Mary Richardson and the Walker Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1939 in honor of the Monticello Convention. It reads as follows.

THE MONTICELLO

CONVENTION

HELD HERE 1852

MARKED BY

MARY RICHARDSON WALKER CHAPTER

DAUGHTERS OF

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

1939

F. Bust of Robert A. Long

In the center of the park is a bronze bust of the Longview's founder and the park's namesake, Robert A. Long. A statue of Long was first proposed in 1935, and a community group began raising money for the statue to be placed in Jefferson Square, which at the time was still owned by the Long-Bell Lumber Company. Long-Bell ended up having to sell Jefferson Square due to financial problems, and the community group ended up spending most of the money raised for the statue to purchase Jefferson Square to donate it to the city as a park. Without enough money left for a statue, the group changed its plans to a bronze bust on a concrete pedestal. The pedestal was placed in 1942, but material restrictions on bronze during World War II delayed the bust until after the war. Seattle sculptor Victor Alonzo Lewis' bust of Long was placed on the pedestal in October 1945 and was dedicated August 24, 1946. The pedestal inscription gives no indication of the bust's interesting history.

ROBERT A. LONG

FOUNDER OF LONGVIEW

1922

BORN 1850-DIED 1934

ERECTED

TO HIS MEMORY

IN GRATEFUL TRIBUTE

HIS FRIENDS

AND

THE CITIZENS

OF THIS CITY

1942

9. Longview Public Library

1600 Louisiana Street

The Longview Public Library was the third public building built in Longview (after the Monticello Hotel and the railway station), and was funded by R. A. Long himself as a gift to the city at a cost of $150,000, plus $10,000 for books. The Library was dedicated April 26, 1926. It was designed to complement the Monticello Hotel, and other buildings planned to surround the Civic Center which were never built.

10. United States Post Office

1603 Larch Street

Longview's Main Post Office was built during the Great Depression as a Public Works Administration project to provide work to people without jobs. It's architecture is classically-influenced Art Deco. The Post Office was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 5, 1991.

11. Nutty Narrows Bridge

Above Louisiana Street near the Longview Public Library

The Nutty Narrows Bridge was built above Louisiana Street to give squirrels a way to get to and from R. A. Long Park without being run over by traffic around the Civic Circle. It was dedicated on March 19, 1963. Its name alludes to the famous Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

12. Longview City Hall

1525 Broadway

Longview didn't have a City Hall until 1936 when an Art Deco City Hall was completed on this site from Public Works Administration funds. The current City Hall replaced it in 1976.

13. Lake Sacajawea

Lake Sacajawea was originally Fowler's Slough. The Long-Bell Lumber Company turned it into a lake when Longview was laid out. The lake's name was chosen in 1925 from a contest in The Daily News. Long-Bell originally maintained the lake as a public recreation area until the company ran into financial trouble during the Great Depression. The land was nearly sold to become residential lots, but it ended up being deeded to the City of Longview in 1938. In the 1940s, the lake's indigenous carp were killed off and the lake has been kept stocked with trout for sport fishing since 1950.

14. Columbia Theatre

1231 Vandercook Way

The 1000-seat Columbia Theater opened April 4, 1925. Most of the interior is preserved as it was originally built. Stars including Clark Gable and Ginger Rogers have performed here. For many years, the Columbia was the only operating theater in Longview. It was nearly demolished in 1980 to make room for a multiplex, but bad soils tests and the eruption of Mt. St. Helens allowed it to survive long enough for the Columbia Theatre Task Force to organize to save it. The City of Longview traded the Columbia Theater site for a nearby property the city owned adjacent to the Triangle Mall on December 9, 1982, saving the Columbia while allowing the 4-screen Triangle Mall Cinema to be built in 1983. The Columbia Theater reopened as the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts on November 22, 1983 with a Southwest Washington Symphony Performance. The Columbia Theatre was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 5, 1985. The upper floors originally contained 36 studio apartments. The apartments were renovated into 35 one-bedroom apartments in 1994. They are called the Sylvester Apartments and are leased by the Longview Housing Authority to low-income individuals and elderly couples.

Related Links:

Columbia Theatre at CinemaTour

Columbia Theatre at Cinema Treasures

Columbia Theatre at the Puget Sound Theatre Organ Society

Columbia Theatre in Longview opens on April 4, 1925 from HistoryLink.org

Sylvester Apartments at the Longview Housing Authority

Columbia Theatre Apartments from the National Association of Housing & Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO)

15. Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Building

1304 Vandercook Way

The Art Deco Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Building was built in 1928, and the exterior remains virtually as built. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 5, 1985.

16. Rickles Building

1514-1520 Commerce Avenue

The Rickles Building was built in 1924 by E. H. Mustola. It is named for Rickles Grocery Store, one of the businesses that has occupied it over the years. It was remodeled in 1986.

17. Woolworth's Building

1438 Commerce Avenue

This building was built in 1949 and was the Longview home of F. W. Woolworth's, and once featured a lunch counter and soda fountain. Today it is the home of Pets, Pawns & Imports.

18. Longview Theater

1433 Commerce Avenue

The Art Deco Longview Theater opened in 1942 with 550 seats. In 1945 it was sold to the Sterling Cinema group, which remodeled it in 1954 with a new sound system and a larger screen. After the summer of 1955, the theater closed and remained closed until Thanksgiving Day 1970 after being refurbished again. In 1986, the theater was sold to Act III Theatres. Act III put in new seats, a new screen, a new projection system and digital surround sound in 1996. Under Act III, this was a great theater. Among the movies I saw at this theater were Titanic and the special editions of the Star Wars Trilogy. Alas, Regal Cinemas bought out Act III and closed the Longview Theater in July 2001. Regal removed all the seats and theater equipment before selling the building with the requirement that it not be used as a theater for 20 years. The interior of the auditorium was gutted and turned into a skateboard park of all things, with a skate shop in the lobby. Though the store remains, the indoor park has been closed. A community theatre group called Rising Star Productions is working to restore the auditorium and turn the Longview Theater into a performing arts center.

Related Links:

Longview Theater at CinemaTour

Longview Theater at Cinema Treasures

Longview Theater at the Cowlitz County Parcel Search

19. Totem Pole

Intersection of Broadway and Commerce Avenue

Chief Don Lelooska

The intersection of Broadway and Commerce Avenue was intended to be one of the most important intersections in Longview. This totem pole was carved by Chief Don Lelooska for the Lower Columbia Council of Camp Fire USA, who presented it to the city of Longview and placed it here. It was dedicated on Sunday, March 19, 1961.

Chief Don Lelooska was born Don Smith in 1933. He was of partial Cherokee and Osage decent. He was adopted into the Kwakiutl nation in 1968, and became a leader in Native American heritage. He carved over 100 totem poles and hundreds of ceremonial masks during his lifetime. He passed away September 5, 1996.

The totem pole is over 30 feet tall, nearly 3 feet in diameter at the base, 1 foot in diameter at the top, and weighs about one ton. The 8 symbols on the totem represent different aspects of the Camp Fire Council. Starting from the top, the symbols are:

The Prestige Hat, which represents honor, leadership and skill, and indicated that the Camp Fire has been in the community for a long time.
The Person figure represents leadership.
The Person is sheltering a Child figure, which represents all of the children who have been a part of Camp Fire.
The Bird figure represents the Blue Bird children, the youngest Camp Fire members.
The Bear figure represents Camp Nisaki at Silver Lake, the council's first camp. Nisaki is a Chippewa word meaning "lake at the foot of the mountain."
The Frog figure represents Camp Nisaki, as well as Camp Singing Wind near Toledo, Washington on Salmon Creek.
The Beaver, nature's engineer and wood worker, represents industry and the hard work of Camp Fire members and volunteers in building Camp Singing Wind.
The Salmon is held by the Beaver and represents immortality or spiritual emphasis, portraying the first tenet of Camp Fire Law. Salmon return every year to feed people and, in turn, return their bones to the river of stream, and according to legend will return again bringing food.

The totem pole was carved of Western Red Cedar, which was chosen for ease of carving without regard for longevity. Historically, Native American totem poles were carved for ceremonial use, and after their intended purpose were taken down for firewood. This totem suffered from its decades of exposure to the elements. It was repainted as part of Eagle Scout projects by Bill Lotz in 1976 and Todd Partridge in 1989, but by 2005 there had been serious decomposition at the base, as well as a crack running up the back of the pole for its entire length. That fall, for his Eagle Scout project, Devin Hemmert organized a community effort to restore the totem pole. The project included replacing decomposed wood with new red cedar, bleaching and drying the surviving original wood, embedding eight steel plates in the back side of the pole to counteract the crack running the length of the pole, filling surface cracks in the carved figures and priming and painting in authentic Native American colors of driftwood gray, dark red, turquoise and black. Hemmert was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout on July 8, 2006. That same month, the totem pole was placed on the Longview Register of Historic Places.

Historical Photos:

View down Broadway in Longview's early days, from the spot where the totem pole stands today, from the Cowlitz County GenWeb Project

Across Commerce Avenue from the totem pole is a park bench with this bronze sculpture of Robert A. Long and a young girl. It was sculpted by Jim Demetro and was placed here and dedicated in 2006.

20. Columbia River Mercantile Building

1339 Commerce Avenue

The 70,000 square foot Columbia River Mercantile Building, also known as The Merk, was the first commercial building completed in Longview. It cost over $195,000. It opened on July 17, 1923, five days after Longview's dedication, as the Long-Bell offices and company store. In 1951, the Bon Marche moved in, staying until Kelso's Three Rivers Mall opened in 1987. Today, along with various businesses, the building contains the Longview Room containing local memorabilia.

21. Big Four Building & Lumberman's Bank Clock

1329 Commerce Avenue

This building was built in 1923 as the Lumberman's Bank & Trust Company. It originally had more classical architecture. The 12-foot-tall, 4-faced clock was placed in front of the building on August 13, 1926. It was manufactured by the Albany Pedestal Chime Clock System and was purchased through the O. B. McClintock Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Lumberman's Bank failed during the Great Depression, being forced closed by the State Banking Supervisor on July 30, 1931. The Big Four Furniture Company purchased the building on June 19, 1934 and remodeled it into Art Deco styling to disassociate itself from the failed bank, however the clock remained. The Big Four Building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 5, 1985.

22. "Big Benjamin" Steam Whistle

Across Commerce Avenue from the Big Four Building

The world's largest steam whistle, "Big Benjamin" was the whistle of the Long-Bell lumber mill, designed, engineered and installed in 1924. The 4-foot tall bronze whistle was powered by a 1,000 horsepower steam plant, supplying 225 pounds of pressure through a 4-inch line to the 14-inch diameter whistle orifice. "Big Benjamin" was first blown on July 31, 1924 at the dedication of the new Long-Bell lumber mill. The whistle could be heard for 45 miles at every shift change, lunch break, emergency fire call and New Year's Eve. "Big Benjamin" is still operational today, and can be blown if sufficient air pressure is supplied to its base.

23. Title Building

1267 Commerce Avenue

The Title Building was completed in 1924. It is currently the home of Teague's Interiors.

Historical Photos:

View showing the Title Building on the left as it looked in January 1924, from the University of Washington Library. Also visible in the background are the Columbia River Mercantile Building and the original appearance of the Big Four Building as the Lumberman's Bank & Trust building

View down Commerce Avenue on March 8, 1931, showing the Title Building on the right, from HistoricPhotoArchive.net

24. Roxy Theater

1105 Commerce Avenue

This building was built as an Oriental-themed theater called the Peekin, which opened in 1925. It was built by a contractor called Val Quoidbach, Sr. for a customer who never paid, leaving Quoidbach with a theater, which he and his wife Gay operated until selling it to W. G. Ripley, who also owned the Columbia Theater and the Kelso Theater across the Cowlitz. By that time, the name had been changed to the Roxy Theater in the 1930s. Ripley remodeled the theater to deemphasize the Oriental architecture and continued to operate it until selling it to the Sterling group in 1945. Sterling focused on the newer Longview Theater and the Roxy closed after the summer of 1946. The "Closed for Summer" sign remained in the box office window for years. The theater was used as a church and a live theater until being sold to Darrell and Doreen DeWitt in 1983. The DeWitt's turned the building into Longview Furniture, enclosing the old stage. Longview Furniture closed in 2001, and the building was remodeled into three venues. The first was the South Pacific Restaurant, opening in July 2001 in the front of the building. In August 2002, the Sky Bar cocktail lounge opened in the middle of the building. In December 2003, the Roxy Special Event Venue opened in the back, with the original stage opened back up for use by live bands. In 2004, the owners reinvented the South Pacific Restaurant into Don Renato's Italian Ristorante & Steak House. The building has since been taken over by new owners and is now known as Kennedy's Night Club.

Roxy Theater at CinemaTour

Roxy Theater at Cinema Treasures

Roxy Theater at the Cowlitz County Parcel Search with photo as Longview Furniture

25. St. John Medical Center

1615 Delaware Street

St. John Medical Center was Longview's first hospital, beginning life in late 1924 as Longview Memorial Hospital. The three-story building in the foreground is the original hospital building, heavily remodeled but still in use. Longview Memorial Hospital ran into financial trouble and was forced to close on July 1, 1943. J. D. Tennant and other Longview civic leaders asked the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace to reopen the hospital. On December 1, 1943, the hospital reopened as St. John's Hospital.

Historical Photos:

Longview Memorial Hospital and Sunken Garden, from the Cowlitz County GenWeb Project

The hospital has been expanded several times over the years, the first time in 1952. The seven story patient tower was dedicated May 11, 1968. Further expansion occurred in 1982. In 1992, St. John's Hospital became a part of the PeaceHealth Medical Group. In September 1999, PeaceHealth completed the hospital's biggest expansion, including a 4-level parking structure, and the hospital was renamed St. John Medical Center.

26. Sunken Garden

Southwest Corner of Delaware Street and 15th Avenue

The sunken garden was built with the original Longview Memorial Hospital, as a gift to the city from Robert A. Long. Today, the sunken garden is operated by the city as part of Lake Sacajawea Park, known as The Grotto. It contains a bench dedicated "In loving memory of Barbara Burrell."

27. Willard Building

1200-1210 Broadway

The Willard Building was built in 1924. It is the only intact example of Georgian Revival architecture in the business district. Sometime after October 1932, a group of doctors from Longview Memorial Hospital broke away from the hospital to set up a new hospital, the 20-bed Longview General Hospital on the second floor of the Willard Building. Longview General Hospital was renamed Cowlitz General Hospital in June 1935 and moved to the old railroad depot at the east end of Broadway. The Willard Building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 5, 1985.

28. Monticello Medical Center

600 Broadway

At the east end of Broadway, opposite the Monticello Hotel, R. A. Long built the second building in Longview: the Longview, Portland & Northern Railway Station. Long knew that the city of Longview would need rail service to move lumber from his new Long-Bell mill, and to serve any other industries that came to his city. The existing major railroads served Kelso, but building into Longview would require a bridge across the Cowlitz River, an expensive proposition for them. Thus, the Long-Bell Lumber Company formed the Longview, Portland & Northern Railway Company to build from a connection with the Northern Pacific Railway at Longview Junction across the Cowlitz River into Longview, and north to Ryderwood, along what is now the West Side Highway. Long also wanted his city to have an impressive passenger station to welcome businessmen who visited his city by train. The passenger station wouldn't make any money for the Long-Bell company itself though, so Long built the station himself in 1925, as a gift to the city, and leased it to the railroad. A plague placed at the station at its completion read as follows.

LONGVIEW, PORTLAND & NORTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY

PASSENGER STATION

ERECTED A. D. 1925

______________

R. A. LONG CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

M. B. NELSON PRESIDENT

J. D. TENNANT, 1ST VICE PRES. R. S. DAVIS, 2ND VICE PRES.

S. M. MORRIS, 3RD VICE PRES. R. T. DEMSEY, SEC'Y-TREAS.

R. W. SMITH, COMPTROLLER WESLEY VANDERCOOK, CHIEF ENGR.

A. N. TORBITT ARCHITECT

______________

THIS TABLET PRESENTED BY THE EMPLOYEES OF THE COMPANY

TO COMMEMORATE THE COMPLETION OF THE RAILROAD

AND THE OPENING OF THE STATION DECEMBER 31, 1925

Long slowly convinced the major railroads like Northern Pacific and Union Pacific to operate trains to his new station. By 1928, four trains a day stopped at the station. In 1931, the Milwaukee Road began serving the Longview station as well. It wouldn't last though; on December 13, 1933, a flood washed out the bridge across the Cowlitz and the tracks north to Ryderwood. By the time the bridge was rebuilt, the major railroads had given up on serving Longview directly, and the station closed. The Longview, Portland & Northern would continue on as a freight only line, connecting the Long-Bell mill and other Longview industries to the major railroads at Longview Junction.

In 1935, Cowlitz General Hospital moved from the Willard Building into the old station, where there was room for 35 beds. Cowlitz General remained in the old station until the 1960's, when the Health Department declared the building unfit for use as a hospital. Ground was broken for a new Cowlitz General Hospital on August 6, 1966, and the new hospital, later renamed Monticello Medical Center, was completed and dedicated in April 1968. The old railroad station was then demolished, and today there is no sign it was ever there. Eventually, the Monticello Medical Center came full circle, becoming part of PeaceHealth, and being renamed the Broadway Campus of St. John Medical Center, a part of the hospital it originally split off from in the 1930s.

Historical Photos:

Old railroad station as Cowlitz General Hospital, from the Cowlitz County GenWeb Project

As for the Longview, Portland & Northern Railway, the route to Ryderwood was abandoned in 1953, leaving just the Longview operation. When Long-Bell was absorbed by International Paper, I-P used the name for all of its railroads in the northwest, each a different division. The Longview section was called the Terminal Division. Other divisions included the 8.76 mile Northern Division between Willamina and Grande Ronde, Oregon (1955-1980), the 3.5 mile Southern Division at Gardiner, Oregon (1952-1999) and the 29.5 mile Chelatchie Division from Chelatchie to Rye, Washington (1960-1981). The Longview operation was sold after International Paper shut down the last of the Long-Bell mill. Today, it is known as Longview Switching and is jointly owned by the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern-Santa Fe railroads. Longview Switching has its own employees, but uses equipment from its parent railroads. It serves Longview Fibre, the Port of Longview and other industries along Industrial Way. The rail yard on the south side of today's State Route 432 between Longview and the Harry Morgan Bridge is Longview Switching's (formerly LP&N's) Longview Junction Yard. There are currently no operating divisions of International Paper's Longview, Portland & Northern Railway, though the company undoubtedly still exists on paper, with no equipment, track or employees, in case I-P ever needs it again.

29. Y.M.C.A.

766 15th Avenue

The Y.M.C.A. opened in 1924. It was originally called the Community House. The Community House was built by R. A. Long as a gift to the city.

Historical Photos:

Community House, from the Cowlitz County GenWeb Project

30. Sevier & Weed Building

1256-1268 12th Avenue

The Sevier & Weed Building was built within Longview's first 2 years by J. Sevier and Otis E. Weed. It is an intact example of Classical Revival architecture and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 5, 1985.

31. Rutherglen Mansion

420 Rutherglen Road

The Rutherglen Mansion on Mt. Solo was originally built as the home of Long-Bell Vice President John D. Tennant, who moved in on February 1, 1927. The 13,000 square foot house is built almost entirely of Long-Bell products and other local materials. After Tennant's death in 1949, his family sold the house. It was used as a nursing home, a girl's home and a meeting place for a church before becoming a restaurant and bed & breakfast in 1994. The Rutherglen Mansion, also known as the J. D. Tennant House, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 12, 1984.

32. Washington Gas & Electric Building

1329 Broadway

This building was built in 1928 as the headquarters of the Washington Gas & Electric Company. It is the only building in Longview covered with Terra Cotta tiles. Though it appears to be a three-story building, it is actually only two with a mezzanine. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 5, 1985.

33. Robert A. Long High School

2903 Nichols Boulevard

Robert A. Long High School, built in 1928, was not the first school in Longview; that honor goes to nearby Kessler Elementary School on the other side of Lake Sacajawea, which opened on February 26, 1924. However, where Kessler Elementary has been heavily modified and is not very photogenic, R. A. Long High School is a beautiful building with timeless classic architecture. This school was built by R. A. Long as yet another of his gifts to the city. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 5, 1985.

34. Blackstone Building

1503 20th Avenue

I don't know anything about this building; I discovered it completely by accident. It seems out of place in a neighborhood of single-family houses. It appears to be from Longview's early years, though I don't know what is was built as. I initially thought it was an old hotel. There was once a Blackstone Clinic in Longview; perhaps there is some connection. Today it is used as a low-income apartment building by the Longview Housing Authority.

Blackstone Apartments at the Longview Housing Authority

35. Longview Fibre

300 Fibre Way

Longview Fibre's original pulp and paper mill opened in 1927, to create paper from the Douglas Fir waste from Longview's Long-Bell and Weyerhaeuser lumber mills. Today, this mill is one of the area's largest employers, and Longview Fibre has paper mills all over the country.

36. Weyerhaeuser Timber Co.

3535 Industrial Way

On July 4, 1926, the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company decided to build a lumber mill in Longview alongside their competitor Long-Bell's mill. The Weyerhaeuser mill opened in June 1929.

R. A. Long hoped that Weyerhaeuser would use his Longview, Portland & Northern Railway to serve the new mill, but Weyerhaeuser had their own idea. Rather than use a railroad owned by their competitor to access the major railroads in Kelso, Weyerhaeuser would build its own railroad to the other side of the Cowlitz. There was just one catch, R. A. Long didn't want railroad tracks cutting through his new planned city, so Weyerhaeuser's railroad was built just outside the city limits to the west and north of town. Weyerhaeuser's railroad crossed the Cowlitz River on a wooden trestle with steel center span completed in 1926 north of Longview and Kelso, connecting to the Northern Pacific Railway at a new yard at Rocky Point. The railroad from Rocky Point to Longview would be known as the Columbia and Cowlitz Railway. From Rocky Point, the Weyerhaeuser Woods Railroad would continue north to Ostrander and beyond into the company's timber holdings for harvesting.

Weyerhaeuser's Columbia & Cowlitz probably kept the major railroads from ever being very interested in serving Longview directly, as the Kelso side of the river would still have to be served as well. Weyerhaeuser's mill remains in operation and is one of the area's largest employers. The Columbia & Cowlitz and Weyerhaeuser Woods Railroad are still serving their owner as they have for over 80 years.

For more about Weyerhaeuser's Longview Railroads, see:

Weyerhaeuser Woods Railroad

Still Chuggin' at 75

37. Lewis & Clark Bridge

Before the bridge, the only way to get between Longview and Rainier was by boat. A small ferry carried automobiles and passengers between the two cities; however, this was slow, and as Longview grew, so did the demand for a bridge.

Historical Photos:

Ferry between Longview and Rainier, from Michael Clark's Written History, Historical Images & Memorabilia of Rainier, Oregon website

Originally called simply the Longview Bridge, this impressive structure was designed by Joseph B. Strauss. Strauss is noted for designing over 100 bridges, including many of Chicago's lift bridges over the Chicago River, as well as the operating mechanism for Portland's Burnside Bridge. He is also known for another bridge you may have heard of: San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. But before he built the Golden Gate, Strauss built this one. The first pilings were driven April 15, 1929, and the bridge was dedicated and opened March 29, 1930. The bridge is 8,289 feet long and has 210 feet of clearance over the river. Its center span is 1200 feet long, and its highest point is 340 feet above the river, making it the longest and tallest cantilever span in North America at the time. Total cost was $5.8 million. Plaques at each end of the bridge read as follows:

COLUMBIA RIVER

LONGVIEW BRIDGE

COMPLETED 1930

BUILT BY

WILLIAM D. COMER

AND

WESLEY VANDERCOOK

TOTAL LENGTH OF SPAN - INCLUDING APPROACHES - 1 1/2 MILES

LENGTH OF MAIN SPAN 1200 FEET

MAXIMUM VERTICAL CLEARANCE 196 FEET

HEIGHT OF TOWERS ABOVE WATER 330 FEET

GENERAL CONTRACTOR

BETHLEHEM STEEL COMPANY

SUBCONTRACTORS

WALLACE BRIDGE & STRUCTURAL STEEL CO. STEEL FABRICATOR

BETHLEHEM STEEL CO. STEEL FABRICATOR

J. H. POMEROY & CO. STEEL ERECTOR

PACIFIC BRIDGE CO. FOUNDATIONS

LINDSTROM & FEIGENSEN APPROACHES

ENGINEERS

STRAUSS ENGINEERING CORPORATION

Within a year of its opening, the bridge had its first suicide jumper. And it was someone from Portland! That's right, in 1931 someone drove all the way from Portland to Rainier to kill himself.

The bridge was originally a private venture, and had wood approaches. The state of Washington bought the bridge in 1947 and replaced the original approaches with concrete and steel. The bridge had a toll, which interestingly enough decreased over the years, until October 19, 1965, when the tolls paid off the cost of construction 12 years early. In 1980 it was rededicated and renamed the Lewis & Clark Bridge. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 16, 1982.

Age and increasing traffic levels required that the bridge be redecked from January 2003 to August 2004 at a cost of $29.8 million.

When adjusted for inflation, the bridge's original construction cost equals about $60 million in 2004 dollars. So, just redecking the bridge cost half of what the entire bridge cost. And it took longer.

Longview-Rainier Bridge Chronology from the Columbia County Historian

38. Harry Morgan Bridge

The first highway bridge built across the Cowlitz River here was the Pioneer Bridge in 1926. The Pioneer Bridge was washed out by the 1933 flood, and was eventually rebuilt. An all new span was built in 1961 to replace the Pioneer Bridge. A second span was added alongside the first in 1974. These two spans are collectively known as the Harry Morgan Bridge. They carry State Route 432 across the Cowlitz River connecting Longview to Interstate 5. They also cross over the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railway main line.

Adjacent to the Harry Morgan Bridge is this railroad bridge, carrying the Burlington Northern- Santa Fe Railway over the Coweeman River where it joins the Cowlitz River. The railroad bridge is also used by the Union Pacific Railroad and Amtrak.

39. Triangle Mall

Longview's first shopping mall, the Triangle Mall opened in 1964. It was initially a Pay 'N Save, Montgomery Ward's and Britt's Department Store (owned by J. J. Newberry's) in a cluster of separate buildings. Montgomery Ward's was built first, with construction starting in 1960 and opening in October 1961. Britt's Department Store was built in 1963, and was renamed Newberry's in 1975. As time passed, smaller stores filled in the gaps between the large stores. Then people didn't like having to walk from store to store in the rain, so the walkways between were covered around 1972. Then people didn't like the cold, so the ends were enclosed. Other separate additions were added over the years as well, including an Ernst Hardware (which was replaced by a larger Ernst in the mid-1990s), and the Triangle Cinema in 1983.

Around 1994, the interior of the mall was remodeled with a 4-sided pedestal clock, a small fountain, light poles, planter boxes and the like. In the late 1990's the mall's core stores began disappearing. The Ernst was the first to go in early 1997, one of the last Ernst stores. Though Ace Hardware took over the Ernst building in late 1999, opening it as their "Store 21" prototype, it didn't help the main mall much. Montgomery Ward's was the next to go. Ward's had been going through financial difficulties throughout the 1990s. First the Longview store lost its Auto Service Center in 1999, then finally in early 2001 with Ward's total shutdown, the Longview store, one of the last, closed for good, leaving the mall without its main anchor store. The Newberry's chain failed later that same year and the Longview store was one of the last when it closed in May (the last Oregon Newberry's at Portland's Lloyd Center had already closed in April), leaving only the Pay 'N Save, which had become PayLess in 1992 and then Rite Aid in 1996 as the mall's only major store. A separate Thriftway was lured to the mall in a brand new building in 1998, but the store failed and closed around the end of July, 2002.

In 2003, new owners purchased the mall, and began tearing the enclosed mall down to build a strip mall-like cluster of building called Triangle Center. First went the old Wards store, starting in October 2003, then the rest of the mall, with the demolition of the Newberry's building starting in April 2004. By 2005, only the Rite Aid building (which was to remain) and the Radio Shack (which was never meant to be a stand alone building) were all that remained of the old mall, and by the end of 2005, the Radio Shack had moved into new quarters and the last of the demolition was complete. Ace Hardware remains in the former Ernst building, and the former Thriftway became a Ross store.

The original Pay 'N Save building will remain as Rite Aid, as the stand-alone building it once was. The demolition of the rest of the mall revealed some old Pay 'N Save signage, including a hand-painted mural depicting the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant. These were still in place as of December 2005, though by the spring of 2006 a drive-up window had been installed (though clear of this signage) and the building's exterior had been renovated and this had disappeared. The only other remnant of the old Triangle Mall is the clock and some benches that were installed in the 1990s that have been placed outside around the new mall.

At any rate, the Triangle Mall's story is interesting, as 40 years later it once again has become what it started out as: separate stores that require people to go out in the rain to get from one to another.

For more information in the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant, see Trojan in Twilight.

Related Links:

Triangle Cinema at CinemaTour

Triangle Mall at the Cowlitz County Parcel Search with late 1990s pictures.

Ernst selling all its stores, finally going out of business from the Seattle Times

Hardware chain falls on hard times from the Kitsap Sun

Ernst Home Center liquidation sales start today from the Seattle Times

Old retail friend Ernst is all but history from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Store 21 prototype targets broader shopper base from Home Channel News

Montgomery Ward closing stores from The Daily News

Newberry's closes its doors from The Daily News

Thriftway grocery closing in 3 weeks from The Daily News

Texas firm takes option on Triangle Mall from The Daily News

Triangle Mauled from The Daily News

Newberry's walls falling from The Daily News

Three Sides of Triangle from The Daily News

40. Former Taco Bell

1006 Washington Way

This Muchas Gracias restaurant is an old Taco Bell. This design is becoming rare, and this one is interesting in that the opening for the bell is still open. Yes, Taco Bell restaurants used to actually have bells. I have seen other former Taco Bells of this design with the bell opening bricked up, but this is the only one I know of with the opening still open. Incidentally, it was Taco Bell itself that removed the bell, replacing it with a lighted bell sign for a time before it closed.

41. Chinese Village

3061 Ocean Beach Highway

I have a soft spot for cars on signs. This old car at the Chinese Village has been in place here for many, many years, longer than the Chinese Village itself. (I think it used to be called Bonnie and Clyde's) Anyway, this car is practically a Longview landmark.

42. Espresso Express

745 Ocean Beach Highway

And of course, I like trains, so I can't resist including this old caboose turned espresso stand. According to owners Dan & Laura Estey, it was built in 1933 for the Northern Pacific Railway, and it was eventually acquired by the Weyerhaeuser Woods Railroad as their #6 and was used on log trains around Longview. Dan & Laura Estey purchased it from Weyerhaeuser in 1996 and kept "Old #6's" Weyerhaeuser number.

Kelso-Longview Links:

City of Longview

City of Kelso

Cowlitz County

Cowlitz County Assessor's Parcel Search

Cowlitz County Historical Museum

HistoryLink.org

Cowlitz County GenWeb Project

The Daily News

Port of Longview from HistoryLink.org

Cowlitz County Thumbnail History from HistoryLink.org

Longview Thumbnail History from HistoryLink.org

The Longview News begins publishing on January 27, 1923 from HistoryLink.org

Longview & Kelso, Washington at Lewis & Clark's Columbia River

Longview, Kelso & Rainier Model Railroad Club

Also See:

Trojan in Twilight

PLACES - Salem, Oregon

PLACES - Milwaukie, Oregon

PLACES - Oregon City, Oregon

PLACES - Lebanon, Oregon

PLACES - Astoria, Oregon

PLACES - Rainier, Oregon

PLACES - San Francisco, California

PLACES - Stevens Pass, Washington

PLACES - Antique Powerland, Brooks, Oregon

PLACES - Evergreen Aviation Museum, McMinnville, Oregon

PORTLAND PLACES - Willamette River Bridges

PORTLAND PLACES - Brooklyn Roundhouse

PORTLAND PLACES - Council Crest Park

PORTLAND PLACES - Golf Junction

PORTLAND PLACES - Hoyt Street Yard & Lovejoy Columns

PORTLAND PLACES - Oaks Amusement Park

PORTLAND PLACES - South Waterfront & Aerial Tram

PORTLAND PLACES - Union Station

PORTLAND PLACES - Historic Belmont Firehouse

PORTLAND PLACES - Ankeny Square & Skidmore Fountain

PORTLAND PLACES - Tom McCall Waterfront Park

PORTLAND PLACES - Pioneer Courthouse Square

PORTLAND PLACES - Willamette Shore Trolley

PORTLAND PLACES - Oregon Convention Center

Weyerhaeuser Woods Railroad

2004 Unique Tin Car Show

2006 Unique Tin Car Show

2007 Mild to Wild OHV Show

2007 Unique Tin Car Show

Still Chuggin' at 75

Railroad Ties that Bind

'Choo-choos' charm young and old alike

Triangle Mall Train Shows

2007 Three Rivers Mall Train Show

All website content, including graphics and pictures are © Robert D. West unless otherwise noted. Content is not to be used out of the context of this webpage without expressed permission. Any opinions expressed herein are mine and are not necessarily shared by the Milwaukee School of Engineering, or anyone else.

Questions? Comments? Critiques? Corrections? Concerns? Email me at westr@msoe.edu.