8 • The Southwest Portland Post
FEATURES
January 2016
Garden Home historical society celebrates century-old homes
By KC Cowan
The Southwest Portland Post
If you don’t live there, the Garden
Home neighborhood is often just
“someplace to drive through.” The wide
intersection of Southwest Oleson and
Garden Home roads doesn’t quite give a
sense of place or community as business
districts like Hillsdale or Multnomah
Village do.
Garden Home was a true homestead
community, but unfortunately, many
of the original landmarks of the old
Southwest community have long since
disappeared—the Methodist church, the
dairy, the original school, and two small
grocery stores.
It left members of the Garden Home
History Project longing to find a way to
celebrate their neighborhood.
“When you think about the history of
a community, often it revolves around
buildings like that,” said Virginia
Vanture.
“Places where people would share
the community news. So what was left?
Well, what was left was just homes.
Some of which were just lovely, lovely
homes.”
Unfortunately, some of those homes
1911 Garden Home depot, Oregon Electric Railway. This structure formerly stood on a
trestle where Multnomah Boulevard and Garden Home Road now intersect. The old station
site was the branch on the main stem. Tracks to the left went south to Nesmith, Metzger,
and Greenburg. Tracks on the right went northwest to Firlock, Fanno Creek, Whitford,
and Beaverton. The station platform was built where Old Market Pub is now located.
(Photo courtesy Garden Home History Project)
are being lost—
torn down for new
development and
infill. The historical
society decided
that the best way to
honor the history of
Garden Home was
to celebrate homes
that were 100 or
more years old.
“We came up with
a plan to having a
plaque put on the
home and write a
booklet about the
history of Garden
Home,” said
Va n t u r e . “ We ’ d
publicize it and let
people know there
was something left
of the old Garden
Home.”
A committee
did research and Sasha Kaplan and Matt Miner are proud to own the first century
have discovered 13 home celebrated in Garden Home.
houses that were (Post photo by KC Cowan)
100 years or older as
in Rhode Island where older homes are
of 2015. They designed a brass plaque
celebrated.
and offered homeowners the chance
“I used to baby-sit in a home from the
to purchase one for their home for a
1700s
and it had the servants’ stairwell
modest fee.
and
seven
or eight fireplaces, and all of
Matt Miner and Sasha Kaplan’s home
those
houses
have plaques on them,”
on Southwest 76th Avenue was one of
Kaplan
recalled.
“And I always loved
the century homes and they jumped at
that.”
the chance to celebrate it.
“I always get a kick out of seeing those
They bought the 1915 home recently,
signs,
century farms, which have been
after downsizing from a larger house
in Southeast Portland. Kaplan grew up
(Continued on Page 7)
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