Basic HTML Version
April 10, 2013
18
- Your Answer Guide
419660.040313 CR AG
Land of Opportunity
625 Center St, Oregon City, Or. 97045 • Eric Underwood (503) 496-1552
eunderwood@orcity.org • www.orcity.org/economicdevelopment
10th & Main
1919 Clackamette Drive
12th & Main
• Outstanding opportunity for infill mixed-use development in a
thriving downtown
• Strategically located within the Portland/Vancouver Metro Region
• Excellent access to I-205, I-5, Portland International Airport, the
Port of Portland, rail and public transit
• Ideal for storefront commercial and upper level office space
• Located in high traffic count areas
• Zoned MUD (Mixed-Use Downtown)
• 10th & Main
• 12th & Main
• 1919 Clackamette Drive
McLoughlin Blvd.
Clackamette Dr.
Population:
31,798
Elevation: 440 feet (Gaffney Lane weath-
er station)
Land area:
8.1 square miles
Median resident age:
35.5 years
Median family income:
67,582
Median home value:
$272,200
Mean travel time to work:
25.3 minutes
Educational attainment:
90% High school or higher
22% Bachelor’s degree or higher
Note: Demographic information drawn
from the U.S. Census Bureau.
There’s a good reason Oregon
City hosts the annual First City
Celebration. Founded in 1829 and
incorporated in 1844, Oregon City is a
city of impressive firsts.
It’s the first incorporated city west
of the Rocky Mountains. It’s the site of
the first municipal elections, newspa-
per and Protestant church. But the
city owes its existence not to any of
those manmade firsts, but to some-
thing that was here long before the
first settlers arrived: Willamette Falls.
“The city of Oregon City is based
on the location of the falls,” said local
historian Patrick Harris. “Willamette
Falls makes it a very good place to
develop industry.”
According to Harris, in
1829 Dr. John McLoughlin
built a sawmill there —
but the falls had already
been important to Native
Americans as a place for
fishing, hunting and cele-
bration for thousands of
years. “Many of the
observers noted it was a
place of great potential
development,” Harris
said.
McLoughlin later set-
tled in the little city at the
falls, earning him the title
of “father of Oregon City,”
as well as being the father
of Oregon itself.
Oregon City, by the late
19th century, was also a
famous “last” — last stop
on the Oregon Trail.
The small city boomed;
the first steamboats on
the Willamette River
arrived on the scene, and shipbuilding
thrived in Oregon City itself and just
upriver in Canemah, now a neighbor-
hood of the city. In 1889, the
Willamette Falls Electric Company
transmitted the first electric power
sent long-distance over power lines,
from the falls to Portland.
The falls were the site of paper mills
on both sides of the river — and Blue
Heron Paper Company was a major
employer in Oregon City, at the south
end of Main Street, until its closure in
2011 expanded the redevelopment
potential of the city.
The town’s unique geography —
split between a series of terraces ris-
ing from the river — contributes to
another prominent local feature:
Oregon City boasts a municipally-
owned elevator, unique in the hemi-
sphere. The elevator rises up the bluff
and provides a view of the falls, mill,
historic downtown and two bridges
spanning the Willamette.
City Hall
625 Center St., Oregon City
Call: 503-657-0891; Online: orcity.org
City Manager: David Frasher
Building/Planning
Call: 503-722-3789
Fax: 503-722-3880
City Manager/Recorder
Call: 503-657-0891
Fax:503-657-7026
Code Enforcement
Call: 503-496-1559 (complaint hotline)
Fax: 503-657-6629
Library
Call: 503-657-8269
Fax: 503-657-3702
Municipal Court
Call: 503-657-8154
Police Dispatch
Call: 503-655-8211
Fax: 503-655-0530
Public Works
Call: 503-657-8241
Fax: 503-650-9590
Swimming Pool
Call: 503-657-8273
Fax: 503-657-0037
Oregon City
“End of the Oregon Trail”