The Sidewalks of Portland

I roamed around Portland a couple days ago, doing my ongoing sidewalk contractor photo shoot. I've been interested in the old contractors' stamps in the concrete since I was a kid...the only other city where I've seen so many of them surviving in the pavement is Coronado. They're rare or nonexistent in most cities that I've walked in. In the Irvington district in NE Portland, many of the stamps have been lost...they were usually located at corners, and many of the corner sidewalks have been repaved in recent years to make curb ramps for wheelchairs. But one contractor...Elwood Wiles...put his name in the middle of many blocks that he paved...over a century ago. Thus many of his stamps still exist.

When the sidewalks in Irvington and other older areas of Portland were laid in the first years of the 20th century, horses were of course still in wide use in the city. So rings were installed in the curbs and people could tie up their horses on the streets. Again, I've never walked in another city that still has horse rings! This one appears to have been installed lying to the left when the concrete was not yet dry, leaving an imprint.

This curb in Irvington reflects the street naming method before 1931. In that year, the city was divided into five districts...north, northeast, southeast, northwest, and southwest. East-west lanes were designated as streets, while avenues ran north-south. Thus, about 20 years after this curb was laid, the street became Northeast 18th Avenue.

Irvington is a gracious neighborhood of old, well kept homes. Look at this one...how'd you like to vacuum and paint it? Of course, the owners can probably afford to have someone else do it. What a fine porch...on both the first and second floors! Great for outdoor living. Irvington has been upscale for a long time...my mom recalled that when she was a girl in the 1930s, the rich kids lived in Irvington. Living north of Fremont Street during the depression, she was in the "poor German" demographic.

This is one of the oldest stamps I've seen. This one is not in Irvington but on the corner of NE 26th and Halsey. I recall seeing a 1903 in the past, but none in the 19th century.

The art of the contractor stamp is not dead! Here's a brand new one, near Grant High School. The design has changed a little, and it's cool that the contractor is named Cindy! I would guess that there were not many female sidewalk contractors a century ago.

o