Black and white image of six men standing with a steam donkey. One man holds a large cross-cut saw ready to cut the log in front of him. The cables by which the 'donkey' pulled or 'skidded' the logs from the forest to the railroad for transportation can be seen stretching out from the large drum underneath the corrugated roof behind the two men in the lower center of the image. Most likely the logs were then loaded on a railroad car for transport to the mill or other location. Though the specific location of this group is unknown, this would have been a familiar sight in the forests of Washington County and the Coast Range during the early 1900s. The image is from the Herbert McMullen bequest. McMullen was a local photographer who also collected photographs and images from around the area.
Sepia- toned image of a group of students standing on the front steps of a building, most likely Forest Grove High School. The young women wear their hair up, either loosely pulled back or fluffed toward their faces in a Gibson Girl type of hair style. A number of the students wear matching outfits with similar ties or scarves. The young men either wear suits or shawl-collared, heavily knit sweaters. One young woman on the far left of the image also wears this same style of sweater.
Sepia-toned image of a muddy street with a wagon and a steam-powered ditch digger stuck in the mud. One man tries to lever the rear wagon wheels out of the mud while another man watches. In the center background, a large machine leans precariously to one side, while three men appear to be examining it. Power poles can be seen lining the street on either side, while spectators watch from the sidewalks in the background of the image. A one cent stamp is affixed to the back side of the postcard. Steam ditchers were a major innovation in the late 1800s and early 1900s, providing machine power to dig drainage ditches which once had to be dug by hand.
A photograph of the Western Hotel in Forest Grove, probably dating from the 1880s or early 1890s. The building is a two-story, cross-gabled hotel with a large covered porch supporting a balcony. Four men stand on a wooden step that was likely used for getting on and off stages or wagons that stopped at the hotel. More men line the boardwalk in front of the building, while women and children gather on the balcony above them. A sign above a door on the image right of the building reads "hotel." A note on the back of the photograph identified this as the Western Hotel, which according to the 1892 Sanborn Map of Forest Grove, was next door to Johnson Brothers' Livery Stable. The brick livery stable still stands on the southeast corner of Main St. and Pacific Ave. in Forest Grove, but the Western Hotel is no longer there.
Sepia-toned portrait of a young girl in a short suit dress standing with one arm on a covered table. She wears a knee-length pleated skirt with a jacket and a buttoned vest beneath a broad lace collar, all with matching ribbon trim. Her hair is long, pulled back on top and draped over her shoulder. She wears bracelets on both wrists, black stockings, and button up shoes. Myrtle Brown later married August Blassing and lived with her husband in Washington County for approximately forty years.
Sepia-toned image of a smiling young man in a World War I, United States Army uniform standing in front of a blooming bush. He is identified in museum records as 'Corporal Jas. Laurence Hamilton, Machine Gun Co., 162nd Infantry, France.' In the 1920 census, Hamilton is shown driving a truck for a lumber mill located in Scappoose, Oregon.
Sepia-toned image of a two story Dutch Colonial Revival house with a gambrel roof and a widow's walk between the dormer windows in the roof. A covered porch runs along the front of the home, in front of two series of three windows on either side of the front door. Another staircase going into the side of the home can be seen to the left side of the image; a boardwalk leads to that staircase and another to the front staircase. Built in 1905 and designed by the then pastor's wife, this house was the parsonage for the Congregational Church in Forest Grove for approximately sixty years. Now a private home, the house still stands today and is located in Forest Grove's Clark Historic District. A one cent stamp is affixed to the back of the postcard.
Black and white image looking down 16th Avenue in Forest Grove, Oregon. This street was previously known as Fourth Avenue South. This photograph was apparently taken in order to illustrate the changes that had occurred on the street since the 1910s, comparing it to a postcard photograph that was published in 1912. A number of large houses are visible on either side of the street, and cars are parked along the left side of the street. Large oak trees, pines, and other trees are visible. The street is paved with poured sidewalks and curbs on either side. Power lines are visible along the right side of the image. WCMpic_013317 shows the same view seventy-five years prior in 1912.
A photograph of residences on Douglas Street in Forest Grove, Oregon. This image was originally published as a postcard. At the time this photograph was taken, the street was called Fourth Avenue South. A young man in knickers, a suit coat, and a newsboy cap stands in front of the house on the left of the image. The houses are all substantial buildings, and a number of large trees, both deciduous and evergreen dot the yards around them. There are power poles along both sides of the street, but the street itself is dirt and is lined on either side by boardwalks, a wooden plank curb, and bar ditches. A one cent stamp is affixed to the back of the postcard. WCMpic_013318 shows the same view seventy-five years later.
Black and white image of ten men and women. Four women are seated at the front of the image, while three men and three women stand side-by-side behind them. This group is identified in museum records as the graduating class of Forest Grove High School, 1921.
Black and white image of a group of people gathered in a grassy area, with trees and a hill behind them. In the center of the group stand a man in a suit and woman in a white dress. All of the men have suits with ties of some sort on, and most of the women wear shirtwaists with slightly puffed sleeves. The trees behind the group appear to be an orchard, though none of the trees were in leaf at the time the image was created.
Black and white image in a cardboard frame of an elderly couple seated next to one another in a room in a house. August Blassing was born in Baden, Germany, and came to the Unites States in 1891. Myrtle Brown Blassing was born in Iowa. They came to Oregon sometime in the early 1900s, and settled in Washington County before World War I. Myrtle died less than a year after this picture was taken, in 1951.
Sepia-toned image of a group of students assembled on the steps of a school. They range in age from very young children to students who look to be in their late teens. A woman holding a toddler stands to the side. While most of the younger children's clothing is representative of late 1800s styles, the young women at the back of the row wear more stylish outfits typical of the transition to the styles of the early 1900s.
Black and white image of a number of new cars parked along Main Street in Hillsboro. Museum records identify the event as an automobile dealers' show. See WCMpic_000888 and WCMpic_00879 for the pre-industrial version of an automobile show: the horse show.
Black and white image of downtown Hillsboro, snowing snow piled around the street sign and on the sides of Main Street in Hillsboro. The streets are slushy, and pedestrians wear boots. A Piggly Wiggly store and a National Bank are the most visible businesses in the image.
Black and white image of a road grader removing snow from Main Street in Hillsboro. The businesses on the street behind it include a 'Shake Shop' advertising malted shakes on its neon sign, a dress shop, and Delta Drug Store.
Color image of a sign giving details about the Scoggins Dam project. Scoggins Dam and Henry Hagg Lake were constructed as a part of the Tualatin Project, intended to provide drinking water and irrigation for farms and communities in the Tualatin River watershed. Construction on the dam began in June of 1972, and the lake was opened for public recreation in the summer of 1975. Washington County maintains the recreation area and the dam with the help of the local Elks lodges, while the facilities and the lake are owned by the Bureau of Reclamation. Scoggins Dam is named for Gustavus Scoggins, whose family settled in what would become Washington County in 1848. Henry Hagg was a long time resident of the Scoggins Valley and had been one of the original initiators of the Scoggins Dam project in 1934.
Black and white image of one of the newly constructed parking lots near a boat ramp at Hagg Lake Park. The vehicles are mostly pickup trucks with boat trailers, but a number of family cars are also visible. On the lake itself small, motorized fishing boats can be seen. Because there was no other place for motorized boating in the county, Hagg Lake allowed motor boats to operate on about half of its surface, with the upper half of the lake reserved as a no-wake zone for non-motorized craft. Hagg Lake Park was the first county park in Washington County, created when the Bureau of Reclamation built the Scoggins Dam and Hagg Lake was formed in the mid-1970s. Henry Hagg was a long time resident of the Scoggins Valley and had been one of the original initiators of the Scoggins Dam project in 1934.
Black and white image of a newly constructed trail at Hagg Lake. Fifteen miles of hiking and bicycling trails were eventually constructed at Hagg Lake. Hagg Lake Park was the first county park in Washington County, created when the Bureau of Reclamation built the Scoggins Dam and Hagg Lake was formed in the mid-1970s. Henry Hagg was a long time resident of the Scoggins Valley and had been one of the original initiators of the Scoggins Dam project in 1934.
Black and white image of fishers at the newly created Henry Hagg Lake reservoir. Construction of the Scoggins Dam destroyed natural spawning grounds in Scoggins Creek, but to mitigate that effect on local fishery populations and recreational fishermen, the lake was stocked with trout, crappie, bass, and perch each year. It was also hoped that drawing recreational users such as fishers and boaters to the reservoir would be a boost to the county's economy.
Black and white image of the dam and the lake it created once it was constructed, showing the county road that crosses the dam and provides access to the reservoir. Hagg Lake Park was the first county park in Washington County, created when the Bureau of Reclamation built the Scoggins Dam and Hagg Lake was formed in the mid-1970s. Henry Hagg was a long time resident of the Scoggins Valley and had been one of the original initiators of the Scoggins Dam project in 1934.
Black and white image of cars and boat trailers parked along the access road to one of the Hagg Lake Boat ramps. Many sailboats can be seen on the lake in the background. Because there was no other place for motorized boating in the county, Hagg Lake allowed motor boats to operate on about half of its surface, with the upper half of the lake reserved as a no-wake zone for non-motorized craft. Hagg Lake Park was the first county park in Washington County, created when the Bureau of Reclamation built the Scoggins Dam and Hagg Lake was formed in the mid-1970s. Henry Hagg was a long time resident of the Scoggins Valley and had been one of the original initiators of the Scoggins Dam project in 1934.
Black and white image of two young men holding a camping cooler. Wearing cut-off shorts, they stand in a field on a hill, with Hagg Lake in the background. Hagg Lake Park was the first county park in Washington County, created when the Bureau of Reclamation built the Scoggins Dam and Hagg Lake was formed in the mid-1970s. Henry Hagg was a long time resident of the Scoggins Valley and had been one of the original initiators of the Scoggins Dam project in 1934.
Black and white image of a Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) worker with a grub hoe, clearing brush and ground cover for a hiking trail at Hagg Lake Park. Fifteen miles of hiking and bicycling trails were eventually constructed at Hagg Lake. YCC programs provided summer employment for local youth and introduced them to conservation work in public lands, mostly campgrounds and national parks. During the late 1970s grants were often provided to state and local governments to fund YCC crews for local projects such as Hagg Lake Park. This was the first county park in Washington County, created when the Bureau of Reclamation built the Scoggins Dam and Hagg Lake was formed in the mid-1970s. Henry Hagg was a long time resident of the Scoggins Valley and had been one of the original initiators of the Scoggins Dam project in 1934.
