BWNA Speakers Forum Recap
Editor’s Note: In our last newsletter, we provided an overview of local historian Doug Decker’s BWNA-sponsored presentation on the history of our area. Lack of space prevented us from providing all the details. What follows is some of what we left out, with more to come in the next issue.
Doug Decker began his April 1 presentation by explaining that Indigenous peoples thrived here for over 10,000 years before the arrival of settlers, who brought disease that decimated the native population and forever transformed the landscape. In contrast, our current grid-like streets and neighborhoods have existed for only about 115 years.
Homesteading Begins
By 1860, much of what we think of as the Portland area was homsteaded by 212 settlers. Today’s Beaumont-Wilshire area was homesteaded by three large land claims that were later sold into smaller and smaller parcels.
However, substantial development did not begin until the population boom following the 1905 Lewis & Clark Exposition, which helped put Portland on the map.
Beaumont Rises
A subdivision developer named our area Beaumont — “beautiful mountain” in French — and marketed it as the “Portland Heights of the Eastside,” a neighborhood with “unquestionable beauty … out where the sun shines.” One developer promised a dozen rose bushes per lot. The population grew rapidly.
What’s Now Beaumont Village Takes Shape
In 1926, when Fremont was still a gravel road, Beaumont School was built for $225,000 and provided education for K-8 students. Businesses thrived along Fremont, including barbershops, auto repair shops, bakeries, meat markets, pharmacies, shoe stores, and hardware stores. There was only one restaurant: Walter’s Oh So Good Sandwiches, where Sambaing Thai is today.
For more neighborhood history, visit Decker’s extensive website at alamedahistory.org.
Liz Erickson has lived in the neighborhood with her husband and two children since 2009. Growing up in Beaverton, she remembers visiting grandparents on NE 42nd and walking to Rose’s Ice Cream for a scoop of butter brickle. She’s a Master Recycler volunteer with Metro and served in the Peace Corps in Morocco.