February 12, 2020
Page 11
Mississippi
Alberta
North Portland
Vancouver
East County
Beaverton
PhoTo CourTesy a rChiTeCTural h eriTage C enTer /b osCo -m illigan f oundaTion
The historic Royal Palm Hotel, located at 310 N.W. Flanders, was one of Portland’s first facilities to hire African-American employees and accept African-American guests.
Advocates for preserving Portland’s black history have added the structure to a list of buildings the Architectural Heritage Museum is compiling to protect from demolition.
Preserving Black History
Moving ahead on effort to save cultural landmarks
Buildings and sites that are im-
portant to the history of African
Americans in Portland may soon
have more protection for demoli-
tion thanks to the efforts of Port-
land’s Architectural Heritage Cen-
ter/Bosco-Milligan
Foundation
and the city’s Bureau of Planning
and Sustainability.
The nonprofit Heritage Center
conducted a comprehensive and
cultural study of the African Amer-
ican community in Portland from
1865 to 1973 to identify buildings
that were part of the community,
including houses, churches, fra-
ternal lodges and more. The plan
is to protect these buildings from
demolition. It completes the study
started in 2017 by Cathy Gal-
braith, the founding director of the
foundation, who died in late 2018.
When the Oregon Advisory
Committee on Historic Preser-
vation meets later this month, it
will consider adopting the foun-
dation’s work and consider ap-
proving an application to place the
historic Billy Webb Elks Lodge,
an epicenter of African-American
life, on the National Register of
Historic Places.
The Bill Webb Elks Lodge on
North Williams Avenue in the his-
toric Albina Neighborhood has
served as a gathering place for Af-
rican-American social, political,
educational and civil rights groups
since 1926, according to the foun-
dation.
The lodge was named for Billy
Webb, a prominent musician who
led an African American band that
played in Portland and on steam-
ships in the 1920s. By the end of
the 20th century, the building was
in disrepair, but was renovated in
2009 with the help of the National
Association of Minority Contrac-
tors of Oregon.
Designed by the Portland archi-
tecture firm DeYoung and Roald,
the structure was completed in
1926 for the Portland YWCA to
serve the black community during
those segregated times. Facilities
included a gym, auditorium, stage,
lounge and locker rooms for both
C onTinued on P age 14