The "Events and Activities" for the month are below these featured stories!
With the staff lined up for a photo, and ready for the morning shoppers, Bob Welch’s Grocery Store was a big operation – three delivery wagons, a horse-drawn buggy for smaller merchandise deliveries, and five employees standing by, ready to fill orders and help customers. Not to mention all the boys working part-time! (Courtesy of Shirley Clifford)
SOUTHEAST HISTORY One ‘kinda super’ market, 125 years ago
By DANA BECK Special to THE BEE
At the start of the Twentieth Century, there was much that was new in the Sellwood community – especially along what is now 17th Street, from Tacoma south to Clatsop. An influx of working-class men was occurring in the Town of Sellwood, some of them hiring on with local merchants, and others being employed by the Eastside Railway Company, which had opened in 1893.
The population of this briefly-independent little city had grown so much, so fast, that its residents voted to ask that Sellwood be absorbed into Portland, so they could have a good sewer system, clean drinking water, a paid fire department, and paved streets and sidewalks. So it was that Sellwood became just one of the many neighborhoods of the Rose City officially in 1893.
Many of these new working men were attracted to Willsburg, situated just to the east of Sellwood, where there were a furniture factory, a sawmill, and a brick factory. The Willsburg sawmill and brick factory were supplying residential homes and business with building materials for the outside of their structures, while the Schindler Furniture Factory was offering household needs like dining tables, chairs, sofas, bedsteads, and writing desks for the inside of their dwellings. It seemed to many, on the east side of Portland, that Willsburg was establishing itself as a manufacturing hub for workers.
Commuting to work at Willsburg could be a long journey for some; those who lived in the City of Milwaukie, or even along Umatilla Street or 13th Avenue in Sellwood, usually had to get there and go home on foot. As a result, small bungalows and cottages began appearing on both sides of 17th Street, where real estate was more affordable. As traffic began to increase, and more workers and families started settling in this part of Sellwood, the result was a new commercial district slowly evolving.
By the early 1900s, a handful of merchants and shops that catered to the working class began opening on the east side of Sellwood, along with a few houses set back from the road. Jacob Kober’s Home Saloon at the intersection of S.E. Umatilla and 17th drew men from the Shindler Furniture Factory in Willsburg to spend an evening of spirits, music, and camaraderie. During the summer, spectators who spent a wild day watching the sporting events at the City View Race Track at S.E. 7th and Malden could often later be found across the street at Jules Rostian’s Saloon.
The St. Charles Hotel on 17th Avenue, later named the Sellwood Hotel, offered lodging for late-night celebrators, as well as temporary boarding for new arrivals hoping to get a job at one of the businesses in Sellwood and Willsburg. Other stores nearby included Johnson’s Feed and Hay, a blacksmith’s forge, and a bakery.
Traffic was particularly brisk along Tacoma Street, where farmers and residents traveled down to the Willamette River to ship out goods and products to sell on Portland’s downtown waterfront. The Sellwood Ferry Landing was the fastest way to transport goods or pick up supplies sent to Willsburg. A look at a Sanborn Map in 1907 reveals many homes that probably housed blue collar workers grouped along Tacoma Avenue. Seventh Street was just as busy, and offered an efficient route to the town of Milwaukie for commuters.
It was about this time that Robert G. Welch and Oliver Applegate, both teamsters delivering goods around the city, appeared in Sellwood, and decided that the community needed a general store. Combining their funds they built a small grocery store on the southeast corner of 17th and Tacoma. The Welch and Applegate Grocery Store sought to save residents on the east side of the neighborhood from having to walk way down to the commercial section of Sellwood on Umatilla Street or having to experience the mile and a half trudge to Milwaukie.
Both men arrived in Portland in different circumstances. Robert and his wife Sarah, along with his son Robert Junior, arrived in Portland in the 1890s by way of Missouri. Starting out as a teamster for the Thomson Brothers of Mt. Hood, the elder Welch worked his way up the ladder, being promoted to superintendent of the company.
As for his partner, Oliver Applegate was born in Indiana, and eventually moved to Portland to work briefly as a bartender – as is reported in the 1900 U.S. Census. Applegate seemed to be more comfortable perched on a driver’s seat, leading a team of draft animals, than in bartending, though – because his occupation as teamster was subsequently listed for many years in City of Portland directories.
But, by 1901, as mentioned, both men were concentrating on taking orders and delivering groceries from their own business, the Welch and Applegate Grocery Store on 17th Street. This wasn’t your typical small-scale mom and pop run market, either. Their grocery store employed five clerks, with at least two women working also, probably as cashier and as a clerk – as is suggested by an early photo of the staff.
The men did the heavy loading and stacking of goods and supplies, and also drove the three delivery wagons that carried groceries to neighboring households. Boys were hired as part-time workers to canvass the outlying area by horse and buggy, taking orders. By noon they would turn and return to the store, load up the delivery van with the goods they had orders for, and then would be back on the road with their two-team delivery wagon.
A drayage and storage stable were located next door, to shelter the horses and store the delivery wagons for the Welch and Applegate Grocery Store.
The store sold teas, coffee, spices, extracts, canned goods, as well as fruits and vegetables when they were in season, and also animal feed. Coffee and tea seemed to be the specialty of the house: In 1911 the Oak Grove Girls Band was invited by Bob Welch to entertain the crowd while he offered a coffee demonstration at his store.
Country stores have always been known to display several types of signage intent on grabbing the attention of the passing public. These techniques were common in Sellwood at this time as well: Marquees with the store name in front of a business could be found up and down 17th Street, while other merchants would paint a mural on the side of their building to advertise dairy products, tobacco, a variety of coffee brands available in the store, or perhaps farm implements.
Bob Welch also used the side of his delivery vans for advertising. The words “The Welch Grocery Co. Sellwood” were prominently painted in bold black letters against a white background, and the store phone number, Sellwood 303, appeared on both sides of his wagons.
But why not mention Mr. Applegate? Well, he had only stayed with Bob Welch for three years, so photos of the Welch Grocery wagons painted this way were probably taken after Applegate had left the business. But his former partner did not disappear: He opened a new store of his own, the “Applegate and Southwick Grocery”, just up the street, at Spokane and Milwaukie Avenue.
Bob Welch took advantage of national advertising done in newspapers by stocking major brand name products like Golden Grain Granules, Madam Sweetheart Soap, and Kaola Pure Coconut Butter used for home cooking. He also took special interest in advertising local products available at Welch’s, like Hood River Newton Apples for $1.25 a box.
In the increasingly competitive retail atmosphere in Sellwood, Bob Welch relied heavily on taking advantage of new marketing ideas. Companies on the East Coast wanting to promote their brand name merchandise to the public would advertise a specialized product in major magazines and newspaper ads, and markets like Welch’s Grocery Store could receive free advertising for stocking it. Bob happily took that – and then went on to advertise more, himself, as well.
By advertising his store and the products he sold in large newspapers, Welch hoped to attract a wider variety of consumers, and to bring in new customers to see the range of his merchandise.
Welch’s store began offering Portland’s locally-made Big Paint products; Patrons could now visit his grocery store and buy Big Paint Floor and Porch paint, Big Paint Floor Varnish, and creosote stain for Shingles and Roof. Consumers could even decide on which of the 42 different shades of house paint made by Big Paint would look best on their home. Paint brushes, gloves, and cleanup supplies were also stocked there.
The pastries, bread rolls, bread and pies usually found at the local bakery were also becoming available at Welch’s for shoppers. From our own perspective a century later, it seems as if Welch’s Grocery was moving towards the one-stop-shopping theme initiated by Fred G. Meyer in the 1930’s!
A wall near the entrance of the store would be reserved for customers to tack notices on items they wanted to sell, to post election results, and to announce community meetings. Patrons stopping by to tack up a notice or read the community board often felt obligated to buy something or check out any weekly specials on sale. Holding events at the store also brought in additional visitors.
The hall above the store was available for dances, holiday celebrations, and special demonstrations of new products. In 1903 the Reverend H.V. Haslam held services for his Free Methodist Church there on numerous occasions.
Bob Welch most likely never intended for his store to become a training center for young boys interested in starting a career in the food industry, but many of his stockboys and clerks did go on to became store owners. Some even became familiar faces to Sellwood shoppers in the years to come.
The list of ex-employees who later opened their own business after working at Welch’s Grocery was quite substantial. It included, as already mentioned, Oliver Applegate and his new partner Southwick who later operated their store at nearby; and Roy Clifford, who had sacked groceries at Welch’s, later operated “Clifford’s Cash and Go Grocery” on 13th Avenue at Malden. Albert J. Henneman, who had first delivered Welch’s store fliers to household doorsteps, and also delivered groceries in the neighborhood for Bob Welch, later opened one of the first grocery stores in Westmoreland on April 25th, 1913. Even Bob’s own brother-in-law, James N. Slavins, got into the action by opening the Slavins and Shutts Market in 1919.
One of Welch’s employees, Warner C. Garner, had quite a prestigious background: Raised among family merchants who operated a long-time grocery store in Donalson, Illinois, Warner was already quite knowledgeable in the retail business when he was hired by Bob. Before he arrived in Portland, Garner had fought in the Civil War, serving with Company A of the 91st Illinois Infantry. He retired from the Welch Grocery in 1916, and passed away in the following year.
There even was a minor connection between the store and the Portland Rose Festival: In the early days, it was not the schools who chose the Rose Festival Princesses, but neighborhoods would elect their own – often as commercial promotions. In 1911, votes for the Sellwood Princess were tallied by the local merchants, and residents were encouraged to visit their favorite retailer to buy a product, and cast a cast a vote for the girl they felt would best represent the neighborhood. Miss Frankie Donnell, a cashier at the Welch grocery, was the winner – easily outdistancing the other contestants in these “votes”.
It should be noted that Bob Welch once saw his store saved by the quick action of foot patrol police officer Trout! That happened in the summer of 1912 when Officer Trout, while on late-night patrol, discovered a fire burning under the Welch Grocery Store, and with the help of a passing resident, quickly put out the flames before any damage was incurred.
As early as 1912, Welch’s began offering one of the first “customer rewards” program – the giving, with purchases, of free S&H Green Stamps. Patrons were given one or more small green stamps for purchasing products at the store; the stamps could be accumulated, pasted in booklets, and the completed booklets could be exchanged for free merchandise. Stamps were collected with great excitement by the public and could be redeemed through an S&H catalogue or at the Green Stamp Premium Parlor on the fourth floor of the Olds, Wortman, and Kings Department Store in downtown Portland. A wide selection including glassware, china ware, sporting goods, outdoor camping merchandise, perfume, linens, and furniture were available to the consumer free if they had enough stamps. Green Stamps continued to be popular until the late 1970s, when consumer interest began to dwindle in collecting and gluing stamps into booklets for eventual rewards.
Small grocery stores seemed to be popping up on almost every other city corner, so attracting customers became harder and harder for competing store owners. But Bob Welch wasn’t going anywhere, and he made the point by building a new home for his family. The Welch home was situated on the corner of 16th and S.E. Umatilla, just a few blocks from his store.
In 1914, the Griffith Brothers, Earl and Jonathan, joined with Bob Welch to open another Welch Grocery Store in Westmoreland – but, a few years later, the Oregon Journal newspaper reported that the Griffiths had filed for bankruptcy, and all of their store’s assets were being auctioned off. Within the next few years Welch’s brother-in-law, James N. Slavins, and Isaiah Shutts had spruced up the old Welch grocery at Tacoma Street, added fresh stock and staples, and opened it under the new name of “S & S Grocery Store”.
For the next fourteen years the Slavins and Shutts market was a mainstay in the 17th Street commercial district, with only an occasional incident – such as this one: On January 19, 1929, the Oregon Journal reported, “The S & S Grocery in Sellwood was looted of butter, meat, candy, and other merchandise. The prowler even helped himself to James Slavin’s touring car, kept at the rear of the store.” The police located James’ car just a few blocks away, but they were never able to recover the stolen groceries.
In the 1920s, Bob made an attempt to bring back a new version of the Welch Grocery store. Possibly Bob was attempting to revive the lustre of his old days – or maybe he simply wanted to show support for his son, who was trying to open a new store. But Bob provided the financial backing for “Robert Junior”, and the store opened for business in the commercial district along 13th. Using Bob’s own well-honed marketing skills, the store offered something new – soft drinks sold in a glass bottle! This, at time when soft drinks could only be obtained over the counter, in a drinking glass, at a Confectionary or at a Pharmacy fountain.
Unfortunately, Robert (it’s unclear whether it was the old man, or his son) was caught selling home-made moonshine to an undercover cop during Prohibition in Oregon – when the selling of any hard liquor to the public was illegal. The grocery store shut its doors, and nobody stepped forward to use the Welch name again.
Alas, for many merchants and mom and pop grocery stores, the Great Depression wrought havoc – including for the S & S Grocery on 17th Street. When that store closed, never again was a grocery store operating in that building. The Husbands Upholstery Shop took the place of the old Slavins and Welch store for the next quarter century, but finally it was time to tear down the old landmark. The Welch’s Grocery building, home once upon a time of Sellwood’s most successful businesses ever, was no more.
Nowadays, in Portland, you won’t be able to find the small mom and pop corner grocery stores that once graced Sellwood and Westmoreland, or the old drayage and stables that cared for the horses used to transport and deliver merchandise either.
And you won’t be able to enter a general store filled with the smells of leather harnesses, coffee, and fresh tobacco, or feel the cozy warmth of a potbelly stove in the corner of the store, burning pieces of Douglas fir – not in this growing urban city!
But, if you’re like me, it’s always a compellingly interesting exercise to track down where these and many other things of the past once stood, and to learn their stories.
Shown is Thomas Adkinson, teacher Daniel Adkisson’s brother, assisting with the planting of the new Sellwood Middle School “natural garden” near the north entrance of the school’s gym. (Photo by Rita A. Leonard)
Portland’s grant funds ‘natural garden’ at Sellwood Middle School
By RITA A. LEONARD For THE BEE
Daniel Adkisson has been a Social Studies Teacher at Sellwood Middle School for over 17 years. During Spring Break this year, he and his students obtained a “Portland Clean Energy Fund” grant leading to the planting of a “natural landscaping” garden on the north side of the school, along S.E. Umatilla Street. The plants were provided by Willamette Valley Nursery, and were planted at the north entrance to the gym, in three parcels.
Students researched native Portland plants and chose the ones that are now in the garden. Species planted there include vine maples, Oregon grape, huckleberry, snowberry, salal, Pacific dogwood, coastal pine, various indigenous ferns, red twig dogwood, and coastal strawberries. The plantings were done including indigenous rocks and micro-organisms.
The work is not yet complete; Adkisson and the school’s PTA are planning work parties with student helpers to lay down wood chips for water retention, and to increase bio-nutrients and weed suppression – all this ultimately leading to a garden that students and neighbors can be proud of and learn from. If this garden proves to be a success, there’s the possibility of its generating similar gardens in the area.
“The ultimate student goal is to create a safer environment in Sellwood, Eastmoreland, and Westmoreland,” said Adkisson. “This first garden is named after Rosemary Trice, a retired PPS teacher and administrator who kept coming back to Sellwood Middle School for ten years after she retired, to help out!”
At Sellwood Community House’s Lunar New Year Celebration, Portland Cantonese Play + Learn Founder Theola Wong looked on as “Caishen”, mythical Chinese “God of Wealth”, offered his golden coin to be “rubbed for luck”. (Photo by David F. Ashton)
Lunar New Year gala comes to Sellwood Community House
By DAVID F. ASHTON For THE BEE
Although for most of us, our calendars read 2025 – we’re also in the Chinese calendar year of 4723, known as the Year of the Snake. These celebrations occur in various places in Southeast, but this time it was rung in at Sellwood Community House (SCH) a bit earlier this year.
Families from across Inner Southeast Portland neighborhoods – some 180 guests in total – arrived at the century-old, rejuvenated Sellwood facility as the day-long celebration got underway.
“This is one of three traditional holidays celebrated by ‘Portland Cantonese Play + Learn’, in addition to our monthly gatherings – as way to teach and connect young children to their own culture,” Program and Volunteer Coordinator Allison Eshel told THE BEE.
“One of the ideas behind this public celebration is to ‘open the doors’ to the larger community, which is naturally aligned with the Sellwood Community House’s, and our own Portland Cantonese, common goals of creating inclusive space!”
During the festivities, guests watched a “Lion Dance” by International Lion Dance PDX; they participated in a “Chinese New Year Storytime” led by Theola Wong of Portland Cantonese Play + Learn; they got involved in New Year crafts; they used a “photo booth”; and they had play time in the tumbling room.
In the kitchen, guests enjoyed “Bolo Bao”, soft pineapple buns with a crunchy topping; “Jian dui” sesame balls, a fried Chinese pastry made from glutinous rice flour; and “Dan Tat”, a Cantonese egg custard tart.
Prior to the partnership with Sellwood Commuity House, Portland Cantonese Play + Learn changed locations almost monthly. “The stability provided by the Community House gives the children a consistent environment in which they can feel secure and thrive within a structured setting,” said Eshel.
“By celebrating the Lunar New Year here, Cantonese children are able to build a sense of identity – gaining a deeper understanding of who they are. And, at the same time, our neighbors are learning more about the Cantonese culture!”
The celebration, mounted by a dozen volunteers, was led by Portland Cantonese Play + Learn Founder Theola Wong, with the assistance of the Sellwood Community House Director of Development and Community Engagement, Elizabeth Milner, and by Eshel. The Westmoreland QFC Market generously donated mandarin oranges for the Lunar New Year Celebration.
Now, spend a few moments with our short and exclusive BEE VIDEO made at the Sellwood “Chinese New Year” celebration –
Already gearing up for their mid-May gardening celebration in the Eastmoreland Garden are these volunteers: From left, Pat Dannen, Lila Brightbill, Kara Grate, Tina Korabiak, and Denise Hannan. (Photo by Elizabeth Ussher Groff)
Informational, musical celebration in parking-lot-turned-garden
By ELIZABETH USSHER GROFF For THE BEE
By the time the Eastmoreland Garden Club has their celebratory annual “Gathering in the Garden” on Saturday, May 17th, in the former golfers’ parking lot that years ago became the “Eastmoreland Garden Park”, spring will be well-advanced – and gardeners will be preparing their summer garden. At that celebration, there will be a lot to help them in that effort, as well as live music and a silent auction, and everyone in Inner Southeast is welcome to enjoy the midday there.
One purpose of the celebration, across from the Eastmoreland Golf Course Clubhouse at S.E. 27th Avenue and Bybee Boulevard, is to show the community the importance of green spaces, trees, and gardening. Nonprofit organizations will be there to provide garden guidance, and information on tree plantings and community gardens. Children can learn how to pot their own plants, at the supervised Children’s Corner. And the Portland Rose Society will be sharpening hand pruners – one per customer – free of charge!
Participating will be Multnomah County Master Gardeners, the Eastmoreland Neighborhood Association (ENA) and its Tree Committee, the Friends of Portland Community Gardens, Sellwood Community House, the Sellwood Middle School PTA, and the ENA Emergency Preparedness Committee.
This year there will be a larger variety of vendors than in years past: For sale will be organic tomato starts, indoor and outdoor plants and shrubs, garden art, ceramics, new and used garden accessories, and engraved bricks to be installed within the Eastmoreland Garden. For the first time there will also be custom bike bags from Lords Luggage (currently operating in the building of the former Eastmoreland Grocery Store, at 3616 S.E. Knapp Street).
The vendors that day will also include Birds and Bees Nursery, Kelly Posch Pottered and Pieced Pottery, Out in the Garden Nursery, Red Pig Garden Tools, Wake Robin Native Plant Gardening, and Cobb Hoelzer Pottery Studio.
There will also be more live music this year, too – featuring the OC Ukers, Mice in the Kitchen, Pacific Rose Ensemble, the Sellwood Middle School Jazz Band, and the Sellwood Moreland Ukulele Revival Klub (SMURK).
If you’d like to be there, mark it down on your calendar for Saturday, May 17, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. In addition to the Eastmoreland Garden Club, and the Eastmoreland Neighborhood Association, the celebration also has support from the District Four Coalition (D4C) and “Neighbors West Northwest”.
For more information, contact Lila Brightbill, the day’s coordinator: Call 971/221-3125, or email – lila5402842@gmail.com
This is Dora McCormick, here shown inside Sellwood-Westmoreland’s fourth library, at S.E. Milwaukie and Lexington, in 1968. (Courtesy of SMILE History Committee)
SOUTHEAST HISTORY Women who made history here!
By EILEEN G. FITZSIMONS For THE BEE
Because March was Women’s History Month, and May is Historic Preservation Month, this story celebrates some notable female residents in Southeast Portland, along with their vintage homes.
Evangeline Nyden was raised in Sellwood. Her name should be familiar to anyone who has ever read her slim book, “Old Sellwood”, which was published in 1970 by then-BEE owners Marcia and Tom Pry.
Evangeline’s father, Arnold Myers, was a building contractor in Sellwood, and the family – including her four siblings – lived successively in several houses around the neighborhood. One of them was a tall gambrel-roofed house on S.E. 13th Avenue, which now encloses the Tasi Jewelry & Gifts shop in a small storefront that was added to the front of the home. Look carefully, and you can still see the gable front of the second floor of the house rising behind the roof of the shop.
In a BEE interview, Evangeline recalled that she used to peer into the window of THE BEE, then situated on 13th Avenue in Sellwood, on her way home from school. The early owner/publisher at the time, Charles A. Thompson, invited her inside, where she was fascinated by the mechanics of printing. When she told him that she wrote stories, he encouraged her to submit one – which she did, at the age of twelve.
Until the 1960’s, THE BEE printed items of “neighborhood doings” which, along with births, marriages, and deaths, included scraps of everyday activities by its residents (and even their out-of-town visitors). These may seem trivial and amusing to us now in the 21st Century, but they documented the many connections between the “ordinary” citizens in this corner of the larger city. So Evangeline’s first offering had to do with her grandmother, and she was paid for it – at 5 cents per column inch. Two dollars a week was good money, in the early days of the past century!
But her stories then went “on pause” for many years – until her own three children were in school – and then her writing resumed, for a total of 73 years. She and her husband Edwin moved to Oak Grove, south of the City of Milwaukie, in 1945 where they operated a plant nursery on McLoughlin Boulevard; but nonetheless she returned to her Sellwood “beat” on a daily basis, contributing material well into the 1970’s after her book was published.
She moved to Corvallis, where her son Robert lived, and she died there in March of 1984. Copies of “Old Sellwood” are still available, and may be purchased at “Sundae in the Park” in early August in Sellwood Park – or after one of the SMILE History Committee’s walking tours, which are often listed in THE BEE’s “Events and Activities” calendar.
Here’s another woman of note in Southeast Portland: Dora McCormick, who was a native of Cornwall, England, originally. In 1907, at age eleven, she arrived in the U.S. with her family, who initially settled in Montana, where her father was a granite cutter. They subsequently continued west to Sellwood in 1913. She and WWI veteran Earl E. McCormick were married in 1919, and moved into a small 800-foot square-foot house on the northeast corner of 19th and Nehalem, where they lived for the next 60 years, raising six children in that tiny two-bedroom house.
Dora’s initial community activities began with her membership in the Sellwood Methodist Church. Despite her busy home life, she was also active in the Sellwood Community Club, serving as President for five years. As an early member of SMILE, Dora helped settle the Oaks Pioneer Church into its new location on Spokane Street at Grand when it was rescued, in June of 1959, from demolition in the City of Milwaukie. Later that year she served on the Pioneer Church committee with other volunteers, as the lot it was placed upon was filled and leveled, and landscaping began.
Next she volunteered to work on a committee that first met in 1962 to address the “plague of juvenile problems in the neighborhood”. Their solution was establishing the Sellwood-Moreland Youth Workshop. The Portland Fire Bureau was persuaded to rent its then-empty fire station at S.E. 13th and Tenino to the organization for a dollar a year, and volunteers gave their evenings and Saturdays to instruct boys between the ages of 13-18 in auto and radio repair, woodworking, photography, and other skills. Funds and materials were donated by businesses and individuals; and in time the Workshop became a project of the Boys & Girls Club. (Yes, that old fire station building is the structure now known as SMILE Station, and is owned by the neighborhood association.)
Dora’s final major civic project began in 1965, when the 50-year lease on the Sellwood Branch Library on Nehalem Street expired, and the building owner declined to renew it. Sellwood had launched its own public library in a storefront on Umatilla Street in 1906, subsequently adopted as the first branch of the Portland Library Association (PLA) in 1907. Consequently, the residents in the community were alarmed at the prospect of losing their library; but Dora as Chairman coordinated nine community groups as they swung into action – meeting with the PLA, finding a new location, and having a house moved to clear the chosen site at S.E. Milwaukie and Lexington (now the “Eckankar Center”).
Westmoreland architect Loyal Lang created plans for the new library, a contractor was selected, and within nine months the new library was open. It remained at that site before shifting to its fifth and current location on S.E. 13th at Bidwell Street in 2001.
Dora died in 1980 at the age of 84, but was honored posthumously by the Boys & Girls Club with a bronze plaque mounted at the base of a flagpole in front of the old Youth Workshop, which as previously noted is now SMILE Station. She was the first Northwest citizen to be presented with the “Woman and Boy” award for “giving untiringly of herself to provide training and leisure time education to youth of the neighborhood. She was someone who listened, and more importantly, cared about what you were saying”.
Our third woman of note in Southeast Portland was Catherine Boon, who at age four arrived with her family from Spokane, settling in the Buckman neighborhood. After graduating from Washington High School, she earned a degree from Oregon State College (now OSU) in 1930, at the beginning of the Great Depression, and began working as a clerk for Portland Public Schools. Three years later she married Wilbur Sohm, a home builder. When the Moreland Presbyterian Church was expanding, her husband bought two houses on what is now the church’s parking lot and had them moved onto 17th Avenue; the Sohms and their two children then lived in one of those houses for 30 years. She served on the board of FISH Emergency Services – and for Loaves and Fishes (“the Meals on Wheels People”), the PTA, and Southeast Uplift, among others.
But it was not until she retired in 1977 as Secretary at the United Way that she was persuaded by another stellar volunteer, Thelma Skelton, to attend and take notes at a SMILE meeting. Catherine went on to serve as Secretary of SMILE for eight years and President for two. As Secretary she took notes, using not a tape recorder or a laptop, but simply using her shorthand skills (check the Internet!) – subsequently transcribing them into a printed record. In a 1994 history of SMILE she recalled attending hearings and City Council meetings on behalf of the neighborhood association, offering public comments when necessary. She became interested in street lighting, served on a city street-lighting committee, and pressed for more street lights throughout the city, not just in Sellwood-Westmoreland. Her expertise and years of efforts were recognized with a plaque in front of downtown’s Portland Building.
And the last of the four notable women I want to tell you about today is Mary Hansen, who was born in Minnesota, and later married her husband Jerome H. Mallet in the State of New York. That was in 1881, and the couple afterward left for South Dakota, where Mr. Mallett operated a hardware store. When the couple arrived in Sellwood in 1907, Mr. Mallett was already 55 years of age, but he continued his craft as a tinsmith. He also built a home for himself and Mary at 8525 S.E. 11th, near Clatsop. She was already 47, but their two children were grown and she was not ready to just sit idle. She joined the Sellwood Presbyterian Church and became an active member of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, whose goal was banning the manufacture and sale of liquor in Oregon.
That crusade was successful – voted into law in 1914, fully six years before national “Prohibition”. Mrs. Mallett became President of the Multnomah County WCTU for six years, and was State President by 1920. She also served as an unpaid officer for children in “distressed circumstances”. These experiences deepened her concern about the welfare of orphans and neglected children, leading to fundraising, and construction of the Children’s Farm Home near Corvallis in 1925.
Whatever your opinion about Prohibition, its supporters were operating in an era without any social welfare programs, and a time when alcoholism was not recognized as an addictive disease. Mary’s unflagging determination and leadership in the WCTU was vital to the startup of the Children’s Farm Home, whose success continued on after her death in 1944. Today it still functions under the auspices of Trillium Services.
Common threads link the stories of these four women: In order to create positive change, you show up, speak up, link up with others, and follow up. And never give up!
Volunteer engagement used to begin in neighborhood churches and fraternal organizations, but the city’s oldest neighborhood association, SMILE (the “Sellwood Moreland Improvement League”), has been an entry point since its organization in the 1960s. Many of its projects and programs contribute to neighborhood livability. If you live in, run a business in, or own property within, SMILE’s boundaries you are automatically a member! Its General Meeting is on the first Wednesday of every month, followed by its Board Meeting on the third Wednesday. Both take place at SMILE Station, S.E. 13th and Tenino, beginning at 7:30 p.m., and all meetings are open to everyone.
If you want to become involved, there are many SMILE committees – Land Use, History, Events, Communications, Natural Amenities, and more, that will put your time and enthusiasm to good use. As these stories of Mary, Dora, Catherine, and Evangeline (and many other citizens) will demonstrate, change starts at the grassroots level – and working with others connects residents, and builds community.
In Sellwood-Westmoreland or elsewhere – wherever you live – consider volunteering at your own neighborhood association! You really can’t tell where it might eventually lead you!
Here, Danielle Kreipe sat with her daughter, vendor Annabel Kreipe – who’d just made a sale to Annie Kobliska-Becker, and had the cash to show for it! – at the 2025 “Portland Mini-Makers Market” on March 1st, inside the Woodstock Elementary School gym. (Photo by David F. Ashton)
‘Portland Mini-Makers Market’ again brings throngs to Woodstock
By DAVID F. ASHTON For THE BEE
Although it was delayed two weeks because of the the mid-February snowstorm, until March 1st, this “bazaar like no other” – the “Portland Mini-Makers Market” – again took over Woodstock Elementary School on the first Saturday of the month.
Booths were set up in the gymnasium and cafetorium for this third-annual fair, with youthful merchants offering a wide variety of their own crafts and edibles to eager shoppers.
“We have several kids here who’ve been selling all three years -- and to watch the evolution of their art and their displays has been really magical,” the market’s ongoing organizer, Tabatha Rhodes, told THE BEE. “The ages of the participants range from kindergarten – we do have one kindergartener here today – with others up through age 18.”
The “Mini-Makers Market” is a city-wide event, Rhodes pointed out. “It’s for all kids in the greater Portland metropolitan area. So, we have about 30 schools represented here – and several of participants who are home-schooled – which includes a couple of kids from Clackamas and from Gresham.”
The first year of the Mini-Makers Market featured 40 vendors; last year the number soared to more than 80 youthful sellers. “This time, we have 60 vendors, which seems like just about the right number. There’s a good flow of people around the exhibitors and sellers, so I think it worked out really well,” observed Rhodes.
More than just the money they earn, it’s the preparing for, and attending, that is also good for the youngsters, the organizer said. “It builds confidence to talk to people that they didn’t know, as well as to have both positive and negative feedback from people who are not family members. All of that helps them grow.”
Weather depending, look for the 2026 “Portland Mini-Makers Market” to return sometime in February.
Events & Activities
MAY 4 Wookiees there be, in Church this morning!!! Today is “Star Wars Sunday” at All Saints Episcopal Church, 10:15 a.m. at 4033 S.E. Woodstock Boulevard. “Wear your Star Wars gear on this special themed Sunday.” All are welcome. Contact office@allsaintspdx.org with any questions. “May the fourth” be with you!
Free classical music concert in Brooklyn: This afternoon at 3:00 p.m., four local musicians will perform a variety of music at Sacred Heart Church, 3910 S.E. 11th Avenue. Sopranos Anita Stryker and Viveka Moon, violinist Austin DeSimone, and pianist Barbara Ulman will perform music by Handel, Mozart, Schubert, Rossini, Barber, and others. Admission is free; donations are encouraged, with the funds collected to be used to support the community garden in Brooklyn. Parking is limited; arrive early to allow for walking some distance if necessary.
MAY 10 Woodstock Neighborhood Plant Sale: Today’s the day of the annual plant sale, to assist the Woodstock Neighborhood Association in maintaining the Woodstock Community Center, under a 2004 arrangement with PP&R to keep the Center open. Neighbors have been donating plants for the sale from their own garden; there will be native and non-native perennials, organic vegetable starts and herbs, ground covers, succulents, ornamental grasses, shrubs, trees, and houseplants. Also garden sculptures and botanical-themed artwork by local artists Jill Torberson and Tracy Hillman. The sale will take place today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Woodstock Community Center, at 5905 S.E. 43rd Avenue, across the street west of the BiMart Store, just north of Woodstock Boulevard.
MAY 15 Classical Ballet Academy Presents “Peter Pan” & “Spring Concert”: Southeast Portland’sClassical Ballet Academy presents four performances of “Peter Pan” and two performances of “Spring Concert” on the stage at Portland State University May 15-18. Choreographed by Classical Ballet Academy’s Director, Sarah Rigles, Peter Pan features drama, humor, flying, and the perfect amount of fairytale magic. “Spring Concert” is a contemporary showcase full of innovative choreography featuring talented contemporary, modern/improv, and hip-hop dancers of all ages. “Peter Pan” performances are May 17, 4:30 p.m. & 7 p.m.; May 18: 3 p.m. & 5:30 p.m.; and “Spring Concert” is May 15 & 16 at 7 p.m. All are at the Lincoln Performance Hall, Portland State University, 1620 SW Park Avenue, downtown. Tickets are sold through the PSU Box Office – https://portlandstate.universitytickets.com, or call 503/725-3305. Tickets $17-$26.
MAY 17 This morning it’s another “History Walk”: This morning at 9:30 a.m., a walking tour by the SMILE History Committee covers the area on the west side of Milwaukie Avenue between Ramona and Glenwood Streets in Westmoreland. No registration is necessary – just assemble at Milwaukie at Ramona at 9:30 this morning. Free of charge, but cash donations are welcome. Dress for the weather.
NOTE: SMILE annual cleanup day rescheduled to August 16th. (It’s usually in mid-May.) This year, the date will be Saturday, August 16, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the south end of Westmoreland Park, in the parking lot.
Street cleanup by volunteers in Woodstock: If you’d like to join in this cleanup, meet at the Woodstock Community Center 5905 S.E. 43rd Avenue just west of Bi-Mart at 9:30 a.m. this morning, or whenever is convenient for you. All equipment and refreshments provided. Help keep the neighborhood clean and beautiful. Walk for an hour or more; bags picked up at noon by “1-800-Got-Junk”, thanks to a grant from OnPoint Credit Union.
Mt. Tabor Art Walk today and tomorrow: The Mt Tabor Art Walk is returning today and tomorrow for its 18th year. This local show and sale is a Portland favorite, and this year features 41 juried neighborhood artists at 29 sites in the beautiful and friendly Mt Tabor neighborhood. See a variety of high quality visual art, and meet local artists in their studios, homes, and community spaces. Some of the diverse media you will encounter includes painting, ceramics, sculpture, photography, glass, jewelry, book arts, fabric art, mixed media, and mosaics, 3D printing, digital illustration. Preview the work of the talented artists, get more information, and download the map for the Mount Tabor Art Walk, online – http://www.mttaborartwalk.com
Folk Music Society concert tonight on Steele Street: The nonprofit Portland Folk Society concludes its 2024-24 concert season tonight, with an evening with Juno award winning singer-songwriter-musician Cara Luft – who is also Bandleader of The Small Glories. Tickets ($24) available at the door (ages 12-18 $12; under age 12 free), at the Reedwood Friends Church, 2901 S.E. Steele Street in the Reed neighborhood. Doors open at 7; show starts 7:30 p.m. For more information, go online – http://www.portlandfolkmusic.org
MAY 28 “Mustard Seed” thrift shop reopens in Woodstock: Today begins All Saints’ “Mustard Seed” thrift store’s Grand Reopening – continuing now through Friday, during store hours. Special deals, and fun atmosphere. Your donations and purchases help fund the “Woodstock Pantry”, Saturday Hot Meals, St. Francis Clothing Closet, Hygiene, and Mobile Showers. It’s in the lower level of All Saints Episcopal Church, 4033 S.E. Woodstock Boulevard – look for the sign.
MAY 31 “Share-It-Square” Paint Day in Sellwood: Today’s the annual repainting of Share-It-Square! All are welcome! This street mural is redesigned every year with themes that are important to the surrounding neighbors. All are welcome to come partake in the fun of painting the street! Wear clothes you don't mind getting paint on, as well as sun protection, and bring a water bottle! It starts at 10 a.m., and is usually over by 3 or 4 p.m. The place to be is S.E. 9th Avenue at Sherrett Street in Sellwood.
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