Portland Observer Section II February 28.1880 Pago 3
The beginnings of Bethel
As told by C liffo rd Freeman Dixon
In 1895, I, C lifford Freeman Dixon, arrived in this
city with my parents. Reverend S.S. Freeman was sent
here from the California Conference to start the AM E
church as its pastor. He brought w ith him tw o
daughters, C lifford and Ruth, and his wife, Lenora.
When we arrived there were the old pioneers, the
Crawfords. M r. Crawford was a ship caulker and he
lived in the southwest part o f Portland, which was most
o f the residential district o f the so-called Blacks at the
time. His daughter was named Hattie Redmond. She
became soloist o f the First Methodist Church ol Port
land, white.
There was Allen Flowers, who was a pioneer. Mr.
Flowers came here as a cabin boy on a ship Irom San
Francisco to Portland and he had made several trips in
to Portland as a young man. Seemingly he like it so his
last trip into Portland by ship he jumped ship and ran
up into the woods o f the west side, which now is past
Broadway. There was nothing but trees and whatever
because Front Street was the only main street at that
time, facing the Willamette River.
When the whistle blew to shove o ff and they had
departed for California, he came back down out o f the
woods and began a livelihood. Just how long he lived in
Portland that time as a young man I can’t recall, but he
finally went to Tacoma, Washington, where he met his
wife Louisa Thatcher. They were married and returned
to Portland and lived on Northeast Victoria Avenue.
V ic to ria Avenue was named fo r M oth er Flowers
because she came from Victoria; she was o f foreign-
birth and she was given the honor. Victoria Avenue was
and still is just two blocks long. The property that
Father Flowers bought ran from Victoria to First Street,
which is one block, and now across the street on First is
the Baptist Church where Reverend Clow was once the
pastor.
However, they turned those lots into a small farm and
there they raised their boys in their younger days, who
were: Lloyd, Ralph, Elmer, and Irvin. Mrs. Flowers,
Louisa as we called her, raised these boys until around
ten or twelve. They decided to buy a tract of land on Mt.
Scott and Father Flowers owned twenty-five acreas
there, built a large two story home for his family. They
raised a great deal o f fruit such as berries, truck gard
ening and the boys helped to work.
Across the road from them was some land which
Father Flowers leased and he leased this land to break
wild horses, and that was his sons vocation. Many times
Ralph and Lloyd would tell o f their experiences in
breaking horses. Ralph always was a daredevil. Time
passed and the land was bought by a couple. This couple
turned it into a cemetery which is now called Mt. Scott
Cemetery. Then it became the business o f putting the
land in shape to become a cemetery. The couple were
very, very close to the Flowers and spent much o f their
time visiting with Dad Flowers and family.
The boys began to grade the land and get it into
shape. After a time it became a beautiful spot for the
deceased.
Time passed and the Flowers began to come back to
the city.
There was a Mr. Jenkins who owned the first church
building at 13th and Northwest Everett, a Black man.
There was no church edifice nor property owned at
the time. Mr. Jenkins turned his building over to Rev
erend S.S. Freeman to start the First A .M .E . Church.
At that time the Southern Pacific Railroad was the only
transportation into Portland from California and the
depot was down close into town. The old depot now is a
shed on the west side o f the Broadway Bridge.
Mr. Jenkins had a daughter who kept house for him.
I would imagine she must have been pushing close to
thirty years old, which we'd call an old maid. However,
she met one o f the railroad porters who ran in here and
they fell in love. One Sunday on the porter's trip back to
C a lifo rn ia , they m arried and Reverend Freeman
married them. The man took his bride back to C alifor
nia on his tr ip south. Sunday n ig ht M r. Jenkins
daughter didn't show up so M r. Jenkins called Reverend
REVEREND S. S. FREEMAN
Freeman telling him she was gone and asking if Rev
erend Freeman had seen her. “ Oh, I married her and
they left on his trip to California. He is a railroad por
te r.” Now you remember, M r. Jenkins owned the
building that we worhshipped in, which was a frame
structure, and we lived in the rear in housekeeping
rooms.
Mr. Jenkins was so angry over the news that the next
day he padlocked the church io keep us from worship-
inging in or occupying it. So, Reverend Freeman had to
get out and find a place to worship. This being a small
congregation. Reverend Freeman had no money; the
congregation had no money. So Reverend Freeman and
his wife opened a boarding house for the railroad men,
a two story building down close to the depot. They
found this to be quite a lucrative business and began to
earn a small amount o f money. Young women o f the
congregation came to help my mother in serving the
p u b lic and the old tim ers began to ra lly around
Reverend r reeman, trying to find a place to worship.
Reverend Freeman found a building on 10th street,
about three lots from the corner. It was a two story
building with a basement. In those days basements were
not excavated, so it was built on top o f the ground and
up to the second story. It form erly was a Japanese
mission and they were ready to sell. So Reverend
Freeman decided to take it over as a house o f worship
for the congregation o f the AM E Church. They would
not sell the church for fear o f not getting their money,
so Reverend Freeman signed personally as owner o f the
property and made the down payment. There was a
house in the rear and we lived in this four room house as
a parsonage.
The old timers who worshipped in this church in
cluded Mr. Wisdom and Mrs. M inor, whose son was
Eugene Minor. He and I attended school together in 95
and 96. M rs. Rhodes and her daughter. Ora. The
Logans, Mr. and Mr. John Logan. M r. Logan was a
Master Mason. He was not a member o f the church but
he was a well-wisher and helped in any way that he
could.
Mrs. M inor was very helpful in setting up women’ s
aid in the church. Then there was Mrs. Mitchell, whose
daughter was Pearl. Then came M r. and Mrs Fred
Thomas who had two children, a daughter, Ulysses and
a son, Freddy. M r. Thomas was working at the Port
land Hotel as the coffee maker for the hotel dining
room . Then came Jesse Coles, who m arried M r.
Grayson and became a movie star in Los Angeles,
California area. 1 think her picture was “ Gone With
The W ind.”
There was a woman who was very kind to the family
o f Freemans, Mrs. Yates. Everyone called her "M am -
mie Yates.” She lived down close where the Southern
Pacific train came down 4th Street all the way to the
depot. She must have lived between Fourth and Fifth
street.
Mrs. Watson and a Mrs. Thomas's daughter, Bonnie,
who is Dick Bogle’s grandmother. Her son was Dick Jr.
and he had a son who is now our TV commentator.
Mrs. Watson’s daughters Hazel, Lula, Kitty and Tuttie.
I loved Tuttie because she was an invalid; a child raised
in a wheelchair until her passing.
A Mrs. M iller, whose daughter was Pearl and later
married Mr. Mitchell. Mr. Keene, whose daughter was
Norma. He had an express business across from the old
depot and did all o f the hauling for various people and
groups.
We had a Mrs. Dora Newman. She was a singer in the
90s. Sergeant and Mrs. Haskins and their daughter, Ida,
who married my uncle Gus Freeman.
In 1898 the Golden West became a H otel. This
building was first known as Fremont House, a rooming
house owned by whites, on the cornor o f 7th and
Everett.
Reverend Freeman had retired in the early part o f his
m inistry and went into business, starting a fancy
grocery store on the corner o f Seventh and Ankeny.
Then as the population on the West Side grew, he
moved the business to 7th and Davis, all the time
moving his family right along with his business and oc
cupying several rooms for a dwelling to raise his family.
The Reverend Freeman was a very fine carpenter so it
wasn’ t hard fo r him to make a way for his fam ily’ s
living.
1 recall during the grocery business on Seventh and
Davis having to drive the grocery wagon to deliver
groceries at the Fremont House, now known as the
Golden West. Our old horse named “ Maude” wouldn’ t
run if you put a firecracker under her, but she was gen
tle, evidently knowing a child was driving the wagon. I
was around seven, eight or nine at the time.
We left the store business and my father. Reverend
Freeman, went bsck into the ministry.
The Golden West Hotel was taken over by a man
named W.D. Allen, who had a family o f wife and sons.
The hotel was beautifully run and well occupied. In
those days the town was wide open and everything went
to help bring the customers in.
Next door to the north was a little church building oc
cupied by the First Baptist Church, Black. The church
stayed there for several years. The first businesses that I
recall are the fancy grocery store and the hotel at Seven
th and Everett run by W .D. Allen, the First Baptist
Church next door on Seventh, M r. Keene across the
street from the old depot, a railroad shed house now. • • •
The restaurant in the Golden West was Mr. Richardson,
proprietor. It was on West Everett Street between Third
and Fourth Streets, that Reverend Freeman started a
restaurant, trying to raise enough money to support the
First AM E Church. So he opened up a restaurant in the
area that was set aside for Black entrepenuers. This
district was known as a “ sporting district” that oc
cupied little one and two room houses fo r sporting
women who solicited their trade.
Reverend Freeman, being a family man, moved his
family to his place o f business which was directly across
the street from the Black saloon. There were rooms up
stairs that he turned into a home for his wife and two
daughters.
During the time between 1904 and 1908, which was