Sep 1960: Freeway Sales Pitch

11 Sep 1960, The Oregonian
Freeways Open Doors for Outlying Districts
by Herman Edwards

Portlanders have learned in the most recent years how the new high-speed freeways can shorten the driving time between their homes in outlying or suburban areas and the places where they work or shop. They like the freeways. The traffic stream moving down the magnificent Banfield freeway into the heart of the city at a legal speed of 55 miles an hour is proof of the popularity of the freeway.

And they are impatient for the completion of more of them, such as Portland-Salem Baldock freeway.

Freeways serve two purposes for big city dwellers. They provide faster and safer routes into and out of the city for the people who can conveniently use them. Those who cannot use the freeway to shorten travel time between home and work, or shopping, also are benefited.

Pressure Relieved
The freeway takes the pressure off congested routes, as the Banfield has relieved Sandy boulevard, and as the completed Baldock will relieve some of the bumper-to-bumper parade on Barbur boulevard.

The freeways serving the cities were long overdue. Over the past 30 years the average speed on rural highways were improved.

Over the same 30-year period there has been a gradual reduction of speed in the urban areas because of increasing traffic congestion. Only those cities which have put considerable mileages of freeways into operation have noticeably shortened travel times.

Feb 1960: Laurelhurst Freeway

12 Feb 1960, The Oregonian
Vehicles Using Portland Portals to Triple by ’75

The estimated 210,000 vehicles which entered and left the urban limits of Portland daily in 1958 will be increased almost three times, to 600,000, by 1975. W.C. Williams, state highway engineer, told the East Side Commercial Club Wednesday in the Sheraton Portland Hotel.

The year 1975 is the approximate target date for completion of the multi-million-dollar interstate freeway system in Portland. If the system is completed by that time it will carry all of the great traffic volume in and out of the city on 27 miles of freeway, Williams said.

The state’s highway construction program has been set back two years by the 1959 slowdown of federal aid funds, the State Highway Commission’s top engineer said. The setback, he said, means a reduction from the 48 million dollars expected this year for interstate highway construction to approximately 34 millions, and a slash from 20 millions for urban highway construction in Portland this year and probably next, he said.

Other projects in Portland have left the impact of the slowdown of federal aid funds. The East Bank freeway probably will be completed to a connection with the Banfield freeway in 1962. The East Bank and the Minnesota avenue freeway, completing the new Pacific highway through Portland all the way to the Columbia River, probably will be finished by 1965, he said.

The Highway Department now is buying right-of-way for the Minnesota avenue freeway the entire length of its route, but construction probably will not be started within the next two years, said Williams. The Minnesota construction will be completed before any start is made of the controversial Stadium freeway, he reported.

Williams told the East Side civic group of some other projects to be constructed on their side of town: a one-way Grand-Union avenue couplet to be connected to the new Marquam bridge, and the modernizing of SE 82nd avenue to Clackamas.

Some time in the future the Mount Hood freeway will be constructed eastward from the Marquam bridge along the general route of SE Powell boulevard, and the Laurelhurst freeway will be built, with a crossing of the Columbia River at about NE 33rd avenue, he said. (emphasis added) The Laurelhurst freeway will provide 16-foot clearance under all structures to become Portland’s only trans-city freeway to meet military specifications, presumably made with a thought to the hauling of missiles.

The state highway engineer clarified a statement he made recently on gasoline taxes which he said had been misunderstood by some persons. The Highway Department believes there will be no need to ask for an increase in state gasoline taxes to match federal aid before 1963, he reported. There will be sufficient state funds to match available federal aid money through the years 1960, 1961 and 1962, Williams asserted.

1930: Parish School Battle

(Forgive my transcription errors; as you can see the original is nearly unreadable.)

The Oregonian, 17 Jul 1930
Protests Hold Up Permit On School
Taxpayers Said to Have Had Too Little Time
Value Decline Cited

...that about half of the property owners were not notified in time ... their protests and that the property assessor's office had forecast property assessor's office had forecast property value reductions of 50% yesterday held up action by the city council on a permit for the con(unreadable) of a Catholic school at East Thirty-ninth street and Laddington street.

John A. Murray told the council ... survey he had made showed ... from one-third to one-half of ... property owners did not know the ... was to be considered by the council last week because they had not been notified by the city and that ... notice had been sent to a ... who had been dead for three years. City Auditor Funk explained ... the list of property owners had been furnished by the petitioners for the school.

... Murray also said that the county assessor's office had told the property owners that if the school was placed there the property in the neighborhood would be depreciated up to 50% for taxes. O. Laurgaard, city engineer, a property [owner?] in Laurelhurst, declared that ... generally have depreciated the value of the property in their immediate district.

More Complaints Made
Additional remonstrances against the permit for the school were filed by the property owners, who said that they had at least 70% of the [owners] against the project. The pro(unreadable) were referred to Commissioner ... for investigation.

Mr. Murray also contended that the ... has enough schools and that ... of the children would be drawn from as far away as Montavilla. He ... that a mortgage company would had interests in Laurelhurst was opposed to the school on the ground of property values would be depreciated.

It is true that churches and schools have depreciated property, ... council has been responsible for the depreciation of a great deal of property in the city, ... for we have ... that churches and schools have ... to enter residential districts," said Mayor Baker. "The statement ... the county assessor's office has ... that the property in Laurelhurst would be depreciated about 50% is a serious statement. It raises a question as to whether this council wants to change its polity in the ... of granting permits for the ... of churches and schools in residential districts over the protests of the property owners."

Bishop's Ideas Cited
City Engineer Laurgaard declared ... member of the Catholic church was opposed to the granting of the permit and that the late Archbishop Christie had been opposed to the construction of a school at that place on ... ground that it was not a proper place for a school.

Dr. Banner Brooke declared that its investment of the property owners in the district were half a million dollars and that the benefit to a few children who would attend the school were not sufficient to overcome the ... that the se property owners would suffer because of he school, as did ... Roberts and others. It was declared that the school would not be needed by more than 30 children.

Mr. Laurgaard declared that the records would show that property had depreciated heavily adjacent to schools all over the city, and that in Laurelhurst lots adjacent to the present site of the Laurelhurst school had been offered for less than half of the price of lots some little distance away.

Some of the property owners in(unreadable) that, since the present proceedings came about through the inti(unreadable) of the city council, the council must determine whether the location is a proper one for the school without regard to what the church or the property owners might say about it ... contended that it was not a proper place because of the traffic conditions on East Thirty-nine street, because the church would not have sufficient room and because of its effect upon the neighborhood.

Sep 1930: Coe Circle Park

The Oregonian, 4 Sep 1930
Coe Circle to Be Park

The other half of the Coe circle will become a parked area, with the removal of the building which has been there for several years, Commissioner Pier said yesterday, when provision was made for the removal of the building which has been at East 39th and Glisan streets. The public works department will deed the strip to the park bureau, which will maintain it hereafter.

May 1925: Coe Circle Named

The Oregonian, 28 May 1925
Site Named Coe Circle
Site Donor to be Honored by City Commissioners

The circle at East 39th and East Glisan streets, which is the site for the statue of Joan of Arc given to the city by Dr. Henry Waldo Coe, will be known hereafter as "Coe Circle," it was determined by the city council yesterday.

The Laurelhurst Daddies' club suggested that because of the numerous gifts Dr. Coe had made to the city and his public spirit generally, the city should honor him by naming the site after him. An ordinance will be prepared by the city attorney and presented at the meeting of the council next Wednesday.

The statue will be unveiled and given to the city Saturday at 11 AM at patriotic ceremonies.

The Oregonian, 17 May 1925
Clear Statue View Aim
30 Trees to be Removed for Joan of Arc Gift

About 30 trees will be removed from the circle at East 39th and East Glisan streets so the view of the statue of Joan of Arc to be given the city by Dr. Henry Waldo Coe will be obscured.

Opposition to the removal of the trees appeared from the art commission, which that a suitable frame of trees should be left for the statue and all of the dead and undesirable trees removed. Dr. Coe, however, wanted the view of the statue clear from all angles and in this view Commissioner Pier agreed.

The trees will be removed by the park bureau and some of them may be used elsewhere. Shrubs and flowers will be planted in the lot about the statue, which will be dedicated May 30 at patriotic exercises.

Dec 1924: Statue Controversy

The Oregonian, 12 Dec 1924
Funds for Statues Promised by Mayor
Plans for Overcoming of Veto Kept Secret
Tax Commissions Refusal Angers Portland Officials and Hot Row is Started

Funds for the bases for two statues to be given to the city by Dr. Henry Waldo Coe will be provided despite the state tax conservation-commission which eliminated $7000 from the city budget for that purpose. Mayor Baker announced yesterday. Just how the mayor planned to overcome the veto of the tax commission, he did not indicate yesterday, but he declared that the money would be forthcoming and the statues saved to Portland. One is a statue of Joan of Arc and the other is George Washington. Later, Dr. Coe has announced that he plans to give the city a statue of Lincoln.

All city officials were irate yesterday at the refusal of the tax commission to grant the funds for the statue bases. There was a suggestion from city officials and from attorneys and business men that a collection be taken to raise the funds. Dr. Coe is opposed to the collection idea because it would mean a heavy tax on the few who would contribute, and he feels that the statues will be of benefit to the whole city. He has had invitations from Seattle and many other cities to donate his statues there, but he said that he would wait awhile, as he had hopes that Portland would want them.

"You always have more trouble with your best girl than with any other," the doctor said, "and Portland is my best girl. I am just now getting my breath after this shock. I don't want them to take up a subscription because they would get the first few men available, and the tax on them would be too great. If the commission had left those items in the budget, it would have meant that each person in Portland would have paid 2 cents, and I think that is a mighty cheap price for art."

Feb 1924: Joan of Arc Statue

The Oregonian 24 Feb 1924

Dr. Coe to Give City Joan of Arc Statue
Bronze Replica of Famed Work to be Cast
Figure, Reproduced From That by Frémiet, Will be Received Here Within Six Months

Paris, Feb 23-- A full-sized replica in bronze of the most celebrated of all the statues of Jeanne d'Arc is to be placed in one of the public squares of Portland as the gift of Dr. Henry Waldo Coe.

This announcement was made today by Dr. Coe after he had completed arrangements for the casting of the statue, which is to be ready for shipment in four months.

The statue is that by Emmanuel Frémiet, noted French sculptor of 50 years ago. It stands at the Place de Rivoli, off the Rue de Rivoli, just opposite the gardens of the Tuilleries. Every American tourist who has been to Paris has an eye for art knows the statue, for not only is it one of the most celebrated of the hundreds of public statues in Paris, but it is placed in the heart of the fashionable hotel district where Americans and other foreigners gather.

The statue is to be cast from the original moulds by Barbedlenne, a noted establishment which holds reproduction rights to all Frémiet's statues. It will be shipped through the canal to Portland, and should reach the Rose City within six months at the most.

This gift by Dr. Coe is in addition to the other three statues--one of Lincoln, one of Washington, and one of Dr. John McLaughlin--which he will give the city, as announced by him upon his departure from Portland for his European trip.

"I think it is most fitting that the sturdy French pioneers who helped to settle the Oregon country should have some recognition," said Dr. Coe. "That stretch of the Willamette valley between Portland and Salem, including the French Prairie region, was largely reclaimed from a wilderness by the early French."