Currently serving as the National Park Service’s administrative office for the Fort Vancouver – McLoughlin House Unit, the Dr. Forbes Barclay House shares more than proximity with its better-known neighbor (the McLoughlin House). The two structures not only housed important… read more
A Public Works Administration (PWA) $27,000 grant contributed to the funding of the $60,000 Barclay Grade School in Oregon City. The PWA also provided a $33,000 loan that was repaid with approval of a local bond initiative. This simple Colonial… read more
Members of the Clackamas County Planning Board announced during the summer of 1935 that the fifty-one-year old Courthouse represented a fire hazard as well as no longer being adequate for the county’s business. Citing the possibility of obtaining PWA funds… read more
Restoration and preservation of the John McLoughlin House, dating from 1846, advanced in several ways during the New Deal era. The Civil Works Administration (CWA) funded local architects to document the house in 1934 as part of the first Historic… read more
Oregon City’s Grand Staircase links the historic center with the town’s premier park located on a bluff 100-feet above it. Completed in 1939, the stone and cement pathway replaced an old wooden stairway in approximately the same location. Skilled and… read more
In 1851, Dr. John McLoughlin formally platted Oregon City reserving land along the city’s prominent bluff for use as a park and naming that public amenity the Promenade. For decades, the Promenade’s minimally improved walkway provided a view of the… read more
Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers began construction of the Singer Hill Creek Falls landscape feature in May 1936. Oregon City manager J L Franzen designed the series of five waterfalls as part of improvements to the McLoughlin Promenade. WPA funding… read more