“The Chicken or the Egg?”
The Evolution of the Oak Lodge label in Clackamas County, Oregon
The questions come up frequently: Where exactly is Oak Lodge? Which came first, Oak Lodge or Oak Grove? Time has a way of clouding the facts as people move away or earlier generations pass on. Fortunately, however, the subject has been studied.
It all began in late 1891 and 1892 when the newly incorporated East Side Railway Company began construction of the electric car line from Portland to Oregon City. By July 1892 the line had already been completed through Sellwood as far as Milwaukie[1,2], with right of way already purchased as far as Oregon City. At the time the entire area between Milwaukie and Gladstone was rural – primarily farms and dairies. Farmers like the Risleys, Naefs and Roethes were excited at the prospect of being able to ship their products into Portland or Oregon City by rail, or for their families to be able to easily commute to the city. Transportation then was either by river, horse, horse and buggy, or horse and wagon. The rail line was going to make things much more convenient.
Fueled by speculation created by the electric car line’s expansion southward ‘Oak Grove’ was dedicated by Edward W. Cornell (“trustee”) and his wife Sarah M. Cornell in May 1890[3]. The town site consisted of portions of the George and Marietta Crow and Nathaniel and Susan Creighton Donation Land Claims (DLC’s) – from the Willamette River east to today’s McLoughlin Blvd., and from today’s Courtney Rd. south to today’s Creighton Ave. The plat was surveyed in April 1890 by H.D. Gradon of McQuinn & Gradon. Harvey G. Starkweather later credited the name of Oak Grove as having been suggested by Edward W. Cornell, “a member of the survey party that platted the townsite. The company developing the property had not been able to secure a satisfactory name and Cornell’s suggestion came as a result of a crew eating lunch in a fine grove of Oak trees in the northwest part of the tract”[4]. Then, in Sept. 1892, the “First Subdivision of a Portion of Oak Grove”[5] was platted on the Susan Creighton DLC followed in 1902 by the “Second Subdivision of Oak Grove”[6]. Much of the Oak Grove subdivisions were developed by the Sellwood Land & Improvement Company. The first post office for the ‘town’ was not created until 1904, but due to confusion caused by there being another Oregon community called Oak Grove the post office was first called Creighton post office. But in 1907 the postal authorities were prevailed upon to change the name to Oak Grove. Similarly the rail station in the center of Oak Grove was first called “Center” station and the station just to the north of it, and south of Courtney, was called “Oak Grove” station. This situation created a lot of confusion, so at the same time that Creighton post office was changed to Oak Grove (1907) the rail station at the center of ‘town’ was changed to Oak Grove and the station to the north was changed to “St. Theresa”- named for the founder of The Little Flower sanitarium at that location[7].
The rural farms just south of Milwaukie began to be subdivided for profit and lots near the railway line were a hot commodity. Further subdivisions followed quickly – Milwaukie Park in 1905, Milwaukie Hillcrest in 1911, and many others. The community of Oak Grove grew rapidly, but the ‘town’ of Oak Grove was never incorporated.
Further south along the rail line similar events were taking place. The rail line had been completed to Oregon City in Feb. 1893 and land speculation along the line was at a feverish pitch. Berryman Jennings had died in 1888 and his north half of the Jennings Donation Land Claim had become the property of his daughter Addie C. Hodgkin and her husband Frank E. Hodgkin. This couple platted “Jennings Lodge” in August 1903[8], but the first mention of “Jennings Lodge” in the Oregonian newspaper was on Aug. 11, 1895[9] when it mentioned some young people visiting the residence of M. J. Abernethy at Jennings Lodge. Along the north side of the Jennings DLC Goodrich D. and Elizabeth Boardman platted “Boardman’s Addition to Jennings Lodge” in August 1905[10]. In 1892 Martha Jennings, the widow of Berryman Jennings, had deeded the eastern portion of her share of the Jennings DLC to her sons William B. and John F. Jennings[11]. They, in turn, platted the “1st Addition to Jennings Lodge” in March 1906[12], setting aside a small parcel for a school. A large part of the Jennings Lodge subdivisions was developed by the Shaw-Fear Company, a Portland development and investment company owned by William A. Shaw and William H. Fear. The first post office was established with the name “Jennings Post Office” Nov. 3, 1910, and was changed to “Jennings Lodge” Jan. 6, 1911[13]. In Jan. 1912 “Hull’s Addition to Jennings Lodge” was platted by William B. and Emma I. Jennings on the south side of “1st Addition to Jennings Lodge”, from property he had retained from his 1892 share deeded to him by Martha Jennings[14]. The community known as Jennings Lodge continued to expand south into the Peter Rinearson DLC and north into part of the Benoni Rogers DLC. Primarily due to the expansion of school district boundaries the northern boundary of the community of Jennings Lodge was considered to be midway between Roethe and Naef roads at River Rd., and beyond that was the Concord school district. However, just as Oak Grove never incorporated, neither did Jennings Lodge.
The area in between Oak Grove and Jennings Lodge was still semi-rural, but subdivision and speculation were changing things fast. In 1902 Jacob S. Risley died and his “Risley Farm” was divided up among his children Charles W. and John F. Risley, and Alice Risley Starkweather[15]. They, in turn, began selling off portions of their shares of Risley’s holdings. In Oct. 1907 John G. Roethe and his wife Alwiene sold all of their farm east of River Rd. to Simeon H. Covell and David N. Smith – about 104 acres[16]. The following year Covell and his wife Hulda platted the town site of “Covell” and began selling off lots[17]. Covell lots were selling quickly but it too never incorporated.
South of Risley’s farm, but north of Roethe’s property, Otto Naef operated his Oak Knoll Dairy. He had sold the portion of his farm west of River Rd. to Theodore Kruse in 1910[18] but continued farming the remainder of it from River Rd. east to today’s Harold Ave. as a dairy. The frustrations associated with a farmer being surrounded by urbanization was evident in a dispersal sale catalogue of his prized herd of cows that he gave out to prospective buyers in April 1919. In it he wrote “The encroachments of the city are becoming so great and increasing taxes on high valuation of land so close to the city make it imperative that we no longer continue in the dairy business, and this is our only reason for dispersing this valuable herd which we have spent years in bringing to its present state of perfection”[19]. Otto Naef’s eldest son, Otto H. Naef, died in 1920 and Otto Sr. died in 1924. The surviving son, Ernest Naef, and his wife Ruth continued farming the property but in 1925 they sold much of it to Eldon J. and Mary I. Steele[20] who operated “Steele’s Pansy Farm” on it for many years. Thus with the land speculation along the rail line, and the passing of the earliest farmers resulting in their farms being divided up among their descendants, the area between Oak Grove and Jennings Lodge began evolving from rural to a more urban environment. This became even more evident following the construction of the ‘Super 99’ Superhighway (McLoughlin Blvd.) in 1936, with commercial roadside development such as motor courts, drive-ins, filling stations, trailer parks and businesses largely accessed by car[21].
The first mention of “Oak Lodge” in the Oregonian newspaper was on January 29, 1922[22]. Prior to that date the only mention of an “Oak Lodge” in the Oregonian was an I.O.O.F. Lodge No. 159 in Molalla called “Oak Lodge” and a ranch home of one John M. Root outside of Medford called “Oak Lodge”. With the rapid population increase between Oak Grove and Jennings Lodge by 1920 it had become apparent that a municipal water system was needed. In January 1922 petitions were circulated to hold an election to create the Oak Lodge Water District. The election was held March 15, 1922 and the measure passed by a 10 to 1 margin with precincts voting being Milwaukie Heights, Oak Grove 1, Oak Grove 2, Jennings Lodge and Concord. The district that was formed encompassed the area between Milwaukie and Gladstone, and the Willamette River to Oatfield Rd., and John Oatfield, Henry Babler, and Harry L. Olsen were elected as commissioners[23]. We may never know precisely how the planners for this district arrived at the label Oak Lodge, but it seems reasonable to conclude that because they wanted their district to include both Oak Grove and Jennings Lodge they borrowed the ‘Oak’ from Oak Grove and ‘Lodge’ from Jennings Lodge and combined the two names.
An advertisement in the Oregonian for the sale of General Obligation Bonds for the water district in September 1923 described the Oak Lodge Water District: “Included in the District are the towns of Oak Grove, Evergreen and Jennings Lodge. This district, being only six miles from Portland, is practically a suburb of the city and contains many fine suburban homes”[24].
About 1940 the Oak Grove Fire Dept. built a new fire station which it named the Oak Lodge Fire Department, as part of the Oak Lodge Rural Fire Protection area. More research is needed to understand the events that led up to this.
In October 1956 voters approved the formation of the Oak Lodge Sanitary District. Its boundaries were from the Milwaukie city limits to Vineyard Rd., and the Willamette River to just above Oatfield Rd. The elected directors were Joseph W. Davies and Ralph Leonard for three year terms, M. Homer Reeves and Arthur Brown for two year terms, and Harry S. Osbourn for a one year term[25]. It is unclear why the district adopted the name ‘Oak Lodge’ when its boundaries did not include the Jennings Lodge area, but it may have been that it was simply following the lead of the water and fire districts’ names. Any confusion that may have arisen, however, was corrected when the district was subsequently dubbed Oak Lodge Sanitary District No.1.
In May 1959 the voters in Jennings Lodge voted to form Oak Lodge Sanitary District No.2, passing it 507 to 82. This project was called a “sister project” to Sanitary District No. 1. and the five directors were Sherman Washburn, Peter Schnell Jr., Ernest Roethe, R. P. Farrington, and Charles E. Thurston[26]. Directors of the two districts discussed merging them, but this was not to take place for a number of years. Following the completion of both projects a dispute between the two ensued over shared facilities and costs. The dispute ultimately went to an arbitrator in 1964[27]. The two districts finally merged in March 1972[28].
Each Oregonian article that refers to an “Oak Lodge” from 1922 to about 1950 pertains to the water district, with the exception of references to the Oak Lodge Fire Protection District after about 1940, an “Oak Lodge Auto Court”, and in 1949 an “Oak Lodge Motel” on McLoughlin Blvd. In April 1957 a real estate ad appears for property in the “Oak Lodge District” and an article about the Oak Grove Garden Club describes it as being in the “Oak Lodge area”[29]. And in August 1960 there is mention of an Oak Lodge baseball team[30]. When studying these articles a pattern emerges of the Oak Lodge label evolving from representing water, fire and sewer districts to gradually creeping into more common usage to describe the Oak Grove-Jennings Lodge area in general.
Maps provide other insights as to what place names were in existence at various times. The 1928 Metsker map identifies Oak Grove, Concord, Covell, and Jennings Lodge but no Oak Lodge. The same is true for the 1937 Metsker map. The 1949 Wynn Map also did not designate an ‘Oak Lodge’. Even as late as 1980 Metsker had not identified a place called Oak Lodge. As far as is known by this author no map published by Clackamas County identifies Oak Lodge, nor do the more recent The Thomas Guides. Similarly Lewis A. McArthur’s Oregon Geographic Names identifies Oak Grove and Jennings Lodge, but no Oak Lodge.
In 1994 METRO[31] devised an ambitious 50-year land-use and growth management plan dubbed the ‘Region 2040 Plan’ to chart Portland-area growth and land management. In conjunction with this plan some Oak Grove area planners proposed that an ‘Oak Lodge’ area town center be designated and included in the 2040 plan. It was thought that the designation would allow the ‘Oak Lodge’ area to apply to Clackamas County for federal community block grant money to finance such things as low-cost housing, road repairs and sidewalk improvements. Eventually public opposition mounted and the town center idea fizzled.
In July 2008 a proposal was made to the Oak Lodge Community Council (OLCC)[32] requesting that the OLCC request that ODOT (Oregon Department of Transportation) “replace and/or install signage on McLoughlin Blvd. reflecting accurate geographic place names for areas south of Milwaukie and north of the City of Gladstone” (namely Oak Grove and Jennings Lodge). Outstanding research on the issue was researched by OLCC member Pat Kennedy who drafted the proposal, citing a great many of the same points mentioned in this work as well as many others. The proposal was unanimously approved by OLCC on July 23 and a letter was sent to ODOT on Aug. 19, 2008, along with supportive background and documentation. The letter indicated that “the Oak Lodge label currently posted south of the city limits of Milwaukie properly applies only to this council and public entities that provide water and sewer services to residents of Oak Grove and Jennings Lodge (see attachment, p1). It is not a geographic destination or place name.” The attachment cited reads: “The Oak Lodge label was first applied to special governmental service districts set up to provide safe water (1922) and sanitary sewers (1956) to residents of Oak Grove and Jennings Lodge. In the late 70’s, when citizen advisory groups were formed to advise county government, the label was again applied, placing volunteers from several local communities and neighborhoods under a single umbrella called the Oak Lodge Community Council.” A footnote reads: “In 1922, residents of Oak Grove and Jennings Lodge joined together to create the Oak Lodge Water District- a governmental service district and finance entity – bounded on the west by the Willamette, east by Webster Rd. (sic), south by the City of Gladstone and north by the City of Milwaukie. More than 30 years later in 1956, Sanitary District No. 1 was established in Oak Grove to provide sewer services, running from Vineyard north to the Milwaukie boundary. SD No. 2 was set up to serve the Jennings Lodge area shortly thereafter – once more forming a merged Oak Lodge Sanitary District finance and service entity. More recently, the label has been applied to the Oak Lodge Community Council (OLCC) – a community planning organization (CPO) charged with advising County Commissioners and departments on matters of local land use which, to the east of Oatfield, exceed the boundaries of Oak Grove. While not always the case, Jennings Lodge currently maintains its own CPO separate and apart from the OLCC.” The issue lay dormant within the OLCC for some time but was resurrected in 2011 when a second, even more detailed document was prepared by Pat Kennedy which was widely circulated in the Oak Grove/Jennings Lodge area[33]. The issue again came up before the OLCC and as a result, in Sept. 2011, the Oak Lodge Community Council changed its name to the Oak Grove Community Council to eliminate confusion and to better reflect that Jennings Lodge had a separate CPO independent of Oak Grove’s. In the meantime the ‘Oak Lodge’ sign was removed on McLoughlin Blvd., but has not been replaced with any other place names.
Sometimes as we charge forward through life seeking direction it’s helpful to look back and see where we’ve already been. Over the years, since that 1922 election, the label ‘Oak Lodge’ has come to be understood as the area encompassing the places of Oak Grove and Jennings Lodge. Though it has never risen to the level of truly being a geographic place, any more than Concord, Fair Oaks, Ashdale, Naef, Milwaukie Heights, or Rothe (sic) has[34], the label still identifies a broad community of residences, businesses, organizations and service districts, and has evolved into common usage among locals and planners alike.
Mike Schmeer
Chairman, Oak Lodge History Detectives
July 2013
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1. Oregonian newspaper July 23, 1892 p.12
2. Newspaper articles from the Oregonian can be viewed on microfilm at the Multnomah County Library and Lake Oswego Library, or online at the Oregonian Historical Archive 1861-1987 , NewsBank, Inc. website available by subscription or through many local libraries.
3. “Map of Oak Grove” plat, May 8, 1890, Clackamas County Surveyor Information System (CCIS) website
4. Oregon Geographic Names (3rd Edition), Lewis A. McArthur, Oregon Historical Society (1952), pp. 452, 453
5. “Plat of the First Subdivision of a Portion Of Oak Grove” Sept. 19, 1892, Clackamas County Surveyor Information System (CCIS) website
6. “Second Subdivision of a Portion of Oak Grove” plat Oct. 31, 1902, Clackamas County Surveyor Information System (CCIS) website
7. Oregon Geographic Names (3rd Edition), Lewis A. McArthur, Oregon Historical Society (1952), pp. 452, 453
8. “Map of Jennings Lodge” plat Aug. 11, 1903, Clackamas County Surveyor Information System (CCIS) website
9. Oregonian newspaper Aug. 11, 1895 p.11
10. “Map of Boardman’s Addition to Jennings Lodge” Aug. 11, 1905, Clackamas County Surveyor Information System (CCIS) website
11. Clackamas County Deeds, Book 50 p.196 and Book 51 p.5
12. “Plat of the First Addition to Jennings Lodge” March 1, 1906, Clackamas County Surveyor Information System (CCIS) website
13. Oregon Geographic Names (3rd Edition), Lewis A. McArthur, Oregon Historical Society (1952), p. 326
14. “Hulls Addition to Jennings Lodge” plat, Jan. 15, 1912, Clackamas County Surveyor Information System (CCIS) website
15. Jacob S. Risley Estate #0796, Oregon State Archives
16. Clackamas County Deeds, Book 101 p. 494
17. “Map of Covell” plat, Mar. 23, 1908, Clackamas County Surveyor Information System (CCIS) website
18. Oregonian Newspaper Nov. 26, 1910 p. 9
19. “Complete Dispersal Sale of A.J.C. Cattle of O. Naef & Sons, Wednesday April 9, 1919 At My Farm On The Oregon City Interurban Line, 10c Fare From Oregon City, 20c Fare From Portland, Car Every Half Hour, Bring This Catalogue With You” loaned by Robert Naef May 5, 2011. This catalogue contains a complete list of the animals for sale, their genealogies, and is complete with photographs of many of them
20. Clackamas County Deeds, Book 181 pp. 572,573
21. A Case For Reclaiming The Identity Of Oak Grove by Pat Kennedy, Aug./Sept. 2011
22. Oregonian Newspaper Jan. 29, 1922 p.5 – headline reads “City Projects Launched, Oak Lodge Wants Water, and Canby Municipal Plant”
23. Oregonian newspaper: Mar. 14, 1922 p.15, Mar. 16, 1922 p.6, June 11, 1922 p.14
24. Oregonian newspaper Sept. 12, 1923 p.25
25. Oregonian newspaper Oct. 20, 1956 p. 29; Mar. 13, 1958 p. 1
26. Oregonian newspaper May 26, 1959 p. 5; May 28, 1959 p. 17; July 31, 1959 p. 1
27. Oregonian newspaper Mar. 15, 1964 p. 38; April 30, 1964 p. 40
28. Oregonian newspaper April 4, 1972 p. 36; Nov. 24, 1972 p. 38
29. Oregonian newspaper April 26, 1959 p. 177
30. Oregonian newspaper Aug. 13, 1960 p. 12
31. METRO Council is a regional government planning agency for Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas Counties, including 25 cities, in the Portland area.
32. OLCC was formed as a community planning organization in 1977 in response to state legislation that named citizen participation as Goal 1 in Oregon’s ground-breaking statutes. At its formation it adopted the same label as the overlapping service districts in the area.
33. A Case For Reclaiming The Identity Of Oak Grove, Pat Kennedy, Aug/Sept 2011
34. Though these areas were never platted, nor incorporated, they appear in the 2002 The Thomas Guide Portland Metro Area (Thomas Bros. Maps), identified as neighborhoods. ‘Oak Lodge’ is not listed.