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Ownerships of Homestead
1855
Jonh Donner takes out a Donation Land Claim
of about 300 acres bounded roughly by the present Fairmount Blvd/Sherwood
Dr on the west, SW 9th on the east, Broadway Dr on the north, and Hamilton
on the south. The Donation Land Claim law, attracting people to Oregon
by giving those moving to Oregon special advantages, was passed in the
U.S. Congress by Missouri senators Linn and Benton.
John
Donner: b. 1790 in North Carolina.
Moved
to Oregon in 1850
Brother
of George Donner of the ill-fated Donner Party at Donner Pass
1857
Sold to Judge Philip A Marquam for $2500.
In 1881 Marquam platted the "Portland City Homestead" subdivision. (Did
this include the 95-block "impossible" part west of OHSU? That seems
unlikely because Marquam would have known that most of those streets could
never be built.)
Philip
A. Marquam: b. 1823 in Maryland.
Law
school, Bloomington, Ind.
Moved
to California (Yolo Co.--elected judge) with the gold rush in 1849,
and
to Portland, Oregon in 1851.
"Laid
out the foundations of nearly all the public works...public highways."
Died
1912.
1885 -- financial troubles
Because of financial difficulties, Oregon
Steam Navigation (OSN), which owned the property, was reorganized and consolidated
with other land owners by Marquam and Henry Villard, forming the Oregon
Railroad and Navigation Company (ORNC).
Henry
Villard: b. (Hilgard), 1835 Bavaria
July
1874, was asked by bankers in Germany to investigate investments in Oregon.
Ben
Holladay's RR properties faced bankrupcy in 1876; Villard bought them June
13, 1879.
...as
part of ORNC...Villard was in competition with NY financiers Gould and
Morgan to shape RR's.
Villard
bested them: took controlling interest in Northern Pacific RR in June 1881.
d.
1900, N.Y.
1893 -- more financial
troubles
With a banking and stock market catastrophe
about to happen, some nefarious financial maneuvers were taking place.
H.W. Corbett assured everyone that "your bank accounts are safe,"
but bags of gold coin were, on July 28, sneaked out of the safe at Meier
& Frank and stashed in a secret location. Banks were closed on
Dec. 8 . . .
July
2004
We believe we have discovered,
in the "Neighborhood History" section of a planning document for Portland's
neighborhoods, who actually platted those impossible streets in Marquam
Gulch:
On Oct. 30, 1857,
Phillip Marquam bought the entire Donner Land Grant of 298.6 acres, for
$2500.00. Marquam did little with his land until the 1880's when
he decided to have it platted for development. He hired the Marshall
brothers for their first surveying job. The area chosen was a little
island of relatively flat area on top of a ridge. The Marshalls divided
the land into 200 foot square blocks. Their intention was to follow
the example of Downtown Portland's square grid. Today this platted
grid remains, existing without any relation to the steep terrain of the
area. Most of the area's streets are 'paper streets,' having never
been constructed; they are virtually impossible to build.
from Neighborhood
Proposed Homestead Neighborhood Plan, Oct 1997
Mid 1920's
The widow of C.S. Jackson (owner of the Oregon
Journal) purchased 89 acres on Marquam Hill and donated it to the state
of Oregon--the property became Sam Jackson Memorial Park and the Oregon
Medical School -- Veteran's Administration hospitals. |
