OregonHighways.us

[xonhulu]

While surfing tonight, I ran across what looks like a return of Mike Wiley's excellent Oregon Highways site:

http://oregonhighways.us/index.html

And it isn't just the old content.  It has an updated look and quite a bit of new information.  He has several references to very recent events, like the re-numbering of spur routes in 2010.  And he even has some of his own suggestions for additional routes or other changes.

I know we'd talked awhile back about how great it would be to get this website back, so I'm sure I'm not the only one who's happy to see its return.  I don't recall hearing from Mike on this forum after that, but I'd be curious if there was any connection between our talk and the return of Mike's site, or if it was just a coincidence.  Or if it's possibly been back for awhile, and I just now noticed!

[707]

I came across this recently as well. I wish that he would start adding more stuff soon as all those blank pages are starting to drive me crazy. 

[Sd_fan2119]

Thanks for posting, and I agree, I wish he would complete some of the pages as well (not sure when he started the site) but from what's on there now, it's interesting to see where a lot of the former routes led. I remember on the old ylekot.com he also had a lot of different pictures of various highway junctions, mileage signs, etc. Would be nice to see some of these on the new site.

On a side note, I noticed on the home page on the 1932 map, that Orenco and Reedville are labeled between Beaverton and Hillsboro, but not Aloha...makes me wonder if Aloha was acknowledged back then. I know even now it's considered an unincorporated community and Aloha's legal addresses are actually Beaverton, but Orenco and Reedville are just small areas that only seem to be acknowledged on a few business names.

[sp_redelectric]

I noticed on the home page on the 1932 map, that Orenco and Reedville are labeled between Beaverton and Hillsboro, but not Aloha...makes me wonder if Aloha was acknowledged back then. I know even now it's considered an unincorporated community and Aloha's legal addresses are actually Beaverton, but Orenco and Reedville are just small areas that only seem to be acknowledged on a few business names.

Aloha has its own post office, and the 97006 and 97007 ZIP Codes are assigned to Aloha as the primary city.  (I used to live in 97006, albeit very much in Beaverton, and many bulk mailers would put Aloha on the address even though I told them Beaverton.  I have the same problem today in Tigard, in the 97224 ZIP Code because all 972XX ZIP Codes belong to "Portland", and Tigard's "Post Office" is actually a "Station".)

Orenco was for many years a forgotten community after the demise of the Oregon Electric - it was the junction between the line that ran west to Hillsboro and Forest Grove, the line north that ran over Cornelius Pass to Linnton and to Union Station, and the line east that ran to Beaverton and Garden Home - another junction with lines running northeast to Portland, and south to Tigard, Tualatin...and eventually Eugene.  Of course now that MAX operates on the old Oregon Electric right-of-way, Orenco has been reborn as a "transit oriented community".

Reedville was also a community on the Southern Pacific railroad line (from 1914-1929, the SP ran the competing "Red Electric" trains on its existing lines in competition with the Oregon Electric).  However it all but disappeared and today only a few small businesses pay homage to the community's name.

[xonhulu]

It's interesting when you see placenames on maps in locations where there's very little indicating a town.  I grew up outside Rainier, OR and there were a number of these around the county.  Apiary, Fern Hill, Swedetown and Delena were a few near us.  But if you look into their history, they often had some substance at one time.  Shifting economics and transportation most often led to their gradual decline. However, they still persist on maps to this day, especially DeLorme's maps.

I used to wonder if mapmakers felt an obsessive need to keep the defunct placenames alive just to have something labeled in those spots.  But you'll often find there's some local identification with the name, so it's justified to keep the name alive.

sp_redelectric can probably speak on this better than me, but I suspect Aloha doesn't have much history.  I think it's a relatively modern development as Beaverton's population expanded outward, but was never fully included in the city.  As he noted, Orenco and Reedville have an older history, even though they probably never amounted to much.  That might explain why they appeared on that 1932 map while Aloha didn't.  Just my theory, though; I'm not that familiar with that area, even though my brother lives in Aloha.

[nexus73]

Speaking of defunct places, ODOT still signs Carpenterville as a destination in Curry County but there is no more town there!  It was famous for being the highest point on 101 back in the day and when the skies were clear, one could see Mt. Shasta from there.  I wonder if anyone can find out why a whole town in the woods disappeared?  I sure can't!

Rick

[xonhulu]

Speaking of defunct places, ODOT still signs Carpenterville as a destination in Curry County but there is no more town there!  It was famous for being the highest point on 101 back in the day and when the skies were clear, one could see Mt. Shasta from there.  I wonder if anyone can find out why a whole town in the woods disappeared?  I sure can't!

Yeah, I've driven the Carpenterville Highway a couple times out of curiosity, and there is zero sign of the town.  Maybe it was a company town and when the mill pull up stakes, the town was taken out with it?  That happened in Valsetz and Bates, among others in Oregon.

Now the highway just serves the few residents up there scattered along its length.  That's why I'll be surprised if OR 255 ever gets signed; that and it would have to duplex with 101 to reach its northern segment.

[sp_redelectric]

I suspect Aloha doesn't have much history.  I think it's a relatively modern development as Beaverton's population expanded outward, but was never fully included in the city.  As he noted, Orenco and Reedville have an older history, even though they probably never amounted to much.  That might explain why they appeared on that 1932 map while Aloha didn't.

From Wikipedia:

On January 9, 1912, the community received its name with the opening of a post office named Aloha; the area had previously been known as Wheeler Crossing.[5] According to Oregon Geographic Names, the origin of the name Aloha is disputed. Some sources say it was named by Robert Caples, a railroad worker, but it is unknown why the name was chosen. In 1983 Joseph H. Buck claimed that his uncle, the first postmaster, Julius Buck, named the office "Aloah" after a small resort on Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin. Supposedly the last two letters were transposed by the Post Office during the application process. The local pronunciation, however, has remained Ah-low-wa rather than Ah-lo-ha.

Not much...

About a year ago, here's a story from The Oregonian:

http://www.oregonlive.com/aloha/index.ssf/2012/01/aloha_celebrates_100_years_as.html

The story of how Wheeler Crossing, a 640-acre track of land, became Aloha has two possible beginnings. Some say the community was renamed after a dinner party's entertainment included a rendition of the song "Aloha Oe." Another rumor has it that the area was named after a Native American Lake -- Aloah -- before a postal worker transposed the letters in 1912.  The only indisputable fact is this: On Jan. 9, 1912, the Aloha Post Office opened for business.

[xonhulu]

On January 9, 1912, the community received its name with the opening of a post office named Aloha; the area had previously been known as Wheeler Crossing.[5] According to Oregon Geographic Names, the origin of the name Aloha is disputed. Some sources say it was named by Robert Caples, a railroad worker, but it is unknown why the name was chosen. In 1983 Joseph H. Buck claimed that his uncle, the first postmaster, Julius Buck, named the office "Aloah" after a small resort on Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin. Supposedly the last two letters were transposed by the Post Office during the application process. The local pronunciation, however, has remained Ah-low-wa rather than Ah-lo-ha.

Not much...

About a year ago, here's a story from The Oregonian:

http://www.oregonlive.com/aloha/index.ssf/2012/01/aloha_celebrates_100_years_as.html

The story of how Wheeler Crossing, a 640-acre track of land, became Aloha has two possible beginnings. Some say the community was renamed after a dinner party's entertainment included a rendition of the song "Aloha Oe." Another rumor has it that the area was named after a Native American Lake -- Aloah -- before a postal worker transposed the letters in 1912.  The only indisputable fact is this: On Jan. 9, 1912, the Aloha Post Office opened for business.

That certainly makes it older than I thought it was, and if it had a functioning post office there must have been something substantial and "town-like" there.  I guess we won't know why it was left off that 1932 map.

[Sd_fan2119]

It's interesting when you see placenames on maps in locations where there's very little indicating a town.  I grew up outside Rainier, OR and there were a number of these around the county.  Apiary, Fern Hill, Swedetown and Delena were a few near us.  But if you look into their history, they often had some substance at one time.  Shifting economics and transportation most often led to their gradual decline. However, they still persist on maps to this day, especially DeLorme's maps.

Along with the more well-known Oregon cities of Phoenix, Jacksonville, Dallas, Detroit and Oakland, if you zoom in on Google Maps about 2 miles southwest of the OR-6/47 junction in Banks, you'll see another Oregon edition of a major city name: Kansas City, OR. I think this is another one that fits in with Apiary, Fern Hill, etc...not sure about any of the history though.

[Bickendan]

Ah yes, Kansas City, OR... there's actually a mileage sign on OR 47 at the turn off to Kansas City. I'm guessing it's a crossroad with a building or two at the corners of said crossroad.

[ARMOURERERIC]

I live in Boulevard CA, the BGS's on I-8 indicate Boulevard and Manzanita as town destinations at exit 65, even the new replaced BGS have this, problem is that around 1975, the original town of Boulevard dissapeared and the town of Manzanita about 4 miles west on old US 80 became renamed as Boulevard, around 1980 the Boulevard PO was closed and moved to a new pre-fab building next to the existing Manzanita PO, which was closed, but the new PO continued to be named for Boulevard CA

[sp_redelectric]

Don't forget about St. Louis.  (About 2-3 miles west of Gervais, and just west of I-5.)  St. Louis is relatively well-signed on the Marion County road system (everything is well-signed on the Marion County road system, including the fact that you are ON the Marion County Road System) but I don't believe there's a single ODOT sign for St. Louis anywhere.

Nope - I stand corrected, there is ONE sign for St. Louis on Oregon 219 at Arbor Grove Road.

As for Kansas City, not much there but a scattering of homes and what looks like a small sawmill and a corporate nursery operation.

ODOT finally killed off Progress, but Metzger still hangs on by a thread even though it's largely assimilated as a suburb of Tigard (it is actually unincorporated, but surrounded by Tigard, Portland, Beaverton and the unincorporated but much more well-known Garden Home).  And the small communities of Farmington, Scholls, Kinton are still very much well known and alive, if not a little overshadowed by their larger Washington County communities that boast of an Intel or Nike facility.

[Bickendan]

Progress -- while within Beaverton's city limits -- had the unfortunate problem of being at the northern tip of Washington Square (which is in Tigard), the big mall in the area. Aside from any signs pointing to its existence, Progress had no identity of its own any longer, even as a Beaverton 'neighborhood'. It's an ironic progression of the area.

Just north of Progress along the western Beaverton side of OR 210/Scholls Ferry Rd, you also have the former communities/Beaverton neighborhoods of Whitford and Denneux. I doubt either mean anything, even to those that live there, though Denneux might have a bit more reason to 'hang on' as a local identity because of nearby SW Denney Rd.