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Renting an Apartment in Gladstone
What You Should Know
There were several Indian groups living in the area that was to become
Gladstone. Lewis and Clark did not visit the Gladstone-Oregon City region, but
did have it described to them by the native people. Later explorers and traders
brought diseases and epidemics that took a very heavy toll on the native
population and the tribes dwindled to near extinction.
When Oregon City was founded and people began moving to the area, they
petitioned their governments to remove the local aboriginals from the land, so
that European settlers could have land to farm and live on. The government
responded by rounding up the Indians and forcing them to leave their lands for a
reservation. With the natives removed from the scene, the Gladstone area was
ripe for settling. Today the only visible remains of the native presence is a
large tree called "The Pow Wow Tree." An Indian burial ground near that area is
now covered over by a street and a number of houses.
Peter M. Rinearson and Cason, around 1843 each claimed 640-acre lots in the area
to be known as Gladstone. The Rinearson house can still be found on a golf
course near the Willamette river, and his descendants were still involved with
the city in the 1950s.
Several small towns were established in this period, but only a few remained to
become the cities of today. Floods and fires were the primary villains, and one
can imagine the heartache these disasters must have evoked.
Linn City was settled in the 1840s by Robert Moore who built four flour and
lumber mills along the bank of the Willamette. Warehouses, homes, and mills were
added until 1857 when a fire destroyed several of the buildings. Efforts at
rebuilding the small town ceased when a flood came later that year and wiped out
the rest of the buildings.Gladstone was founded by a man named Harvey Cross in
the late 1800s, and formally incorporated on January 10, 1911. He laid out the
city's first streets and had his home built in a prominent location. The home is
now a mortuary.
(Correction: Harvey Cross purchased the Cason land that included the Cason
Family Home (intersection of 82nd Avenue and East Arlington in Gladstone. The
Cross family occupied the Cason home. The Cason/Cross house still stands. It is
now a mortuary.) There is also a small park named after him, located at the same
place one of the Indian tribes made its camp. Cross chose the name "Gladstone"
because he admired Prime Minister William E. Gladstone of England.
Being bordered by rivers on two sides, there are only two primary thoroughfares
to and from the city. The I-205 freeway runs along the eastern edge of the city
running south into historic Oregon City. McLoughlin Boulevard also runs
north-south, but through the western side of the city.
Inside the city, the main streets are Portland Avenue, which runs from the high
school, through the middle of Old Gladstone, to the river; Webster, which runs
along the eastern edge of Old Gladstone from the freeway and the river north
into the hills; and Oatfield Road, which winds its way through the hills and
drops down into Milwaukie.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.5
km (2.5 mi). 6.4 km (2.5 mi) of it is land and 0.1 km (0.1 mi) of it (1.98%) is
water.
The city can be divided into four categories. The old section is laid out on a
grid of streets bordered by the Clackamas on the south, McLoughlin Boulevard on
the west, Webster on the east, and the foothills to the north. The river section
of city is the strip of land between McLoughlin and the Willamette River. On the
east side of city is a large park owned by the Seventh-day Adventists. The
fourth section of city is the remaining hilly area north of the old section.
The old section of Gladstone is laid out on a grid of streets running
north/south and east/west. North-south streets are named for colleges, while
east-west streets are arranged in alphabetical order and have the same names as
the north-south streets in Boston's Back Bay: Arlington, Berkeley, Clarendon,
Dartmouth, Exeter, Fairfield, Gloucester, and Hereford. The alphabetical
progression continues with Ipswich, Jersey and Kenmore, continuing the allusion
to Boston's street names from its Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood (adjacent to Back
Bay): Ipswich, Jersey and Kenmore Streets (see Kenmore Square). The origin of
this connection is unknown. It is possible that Asa Lovejoy had some influence
in naming these streets, after the decision to name Portland after Portland,
Maine, instead of Boston, Massachusetts.
On the north side of city are rocky hills that were virtually uninhabitable
until late in this century. In the 1960s and 1970s the area came under
development and was laid out with streets and houses. One street running around
the base of the easternmost hill is known throughout the state for its beautiful
Christmas lights display every year. Several churches, the city's middle school,
a few convenience stores, and a couple of care centers are the only exceptions
to the area's all-residential nature.