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Renting an Apartment in Lake Oswego
What You Should Know
Lake Oswego is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. (Small
parts of the city extend into Multnomah County to the north and Washington
County to the west) It is located south of Portland and surrounds the private
405-acre (1.6 km) Oswego Lake. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total
population of 35,278.
Lake Oswego is notable for its reputation as one of the most affluent suburbs of
Portland. In 2000, the city had a median income of $71,597, up from $57,499 in
1990. Additionally, like the rest of the Portland metropolitan area, house
prices have grown rapidly (as of June 2006); the median value in 2000 was
$296,200, over twice what it was in 1990 ($142,600). The city has some of the
highest valued real estate in the state, particularly the homes overlooking the
lake.
The Clackamas Indians had occupied the land now known as Lake Oswego, but
diseases transmitted by European explorers and traders decimated the tribes.
Prior to the influx of population via the Oregon Trail, the area between the
Willamette River and Tualatin River had a scattering of early pioneer homesteads
and farms.
As settlers arrived, encouraged by the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 and the
subsequent Homestead Act, they found the land under-occupied. Albert Alonzo
Durham founded the town of Oswego in 1847, naming it after his New York
birthplace. He also built a saw mill on Sucker Creek (now Oswego Creek), the
town's first industry. In 1855, the federal government forcibly relocated the
remaining Clackamas Indians to the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation in nearby
Yamhill County.
During this early period in Oregon history, most trade proceeded from Portland
to Oregon City via the Willamette River, and up the Tualatin River Valley
through Tualatin, Scholls, and Hillsboro. The thick woods and rain-muddied roads
were major obstacles to traveling by land. Along the rivers of this area can
still be seen the vestiges of river landings, ferry stops, and covered bridges
of this period. A landing in the city's present-day George Rogers Park is
thought to have been developed by Durham around 1850 for lumber transport;
another landing was near the Tryon Creek outlet into the Willamette.
In 1865, prompted by the earlier discovery of iron ore in the Tualatin Valley,
the Oregon Iron Company was incorporated. Within two years the first blast
furnace on the west coast was built, patterned after the arched furnaces common
in northwestern Connecticut. Other companies such as the Oswego Iron Company and
Oregon Iron and Steel Company (OI&S) followed, collectively intent on making
Oswego into the Pittsburgh of the West.
The railroad arrived in Oswego in 1886, in the form of the Portland and
Willamette Valley Railroad (P&WVR). A seven-mile-long line provided Oswego with
a direct link to Portland. Prior to this, access to the town was limited to
primitive roads and river boats. The railroad's arrival was a mixed blessing;
locally, it promoted residential development along its path, which enabled
Oswego to grow beyond its industrial roots. But nationally, the continued
expansion of freight railroad system gave easy local access to cheaper and
higher quality iron from the Great Lakes region. This ultimately led to the
local industry's demise.
By 1890, the industry had the capacity to produce 12,305 tons of pig iron, and
at its peak provided employment to around 300 men. The success of this industry
greatly stimulated the development of Oswego, which by this time had four
general stores, a bank, two barber shops, two hotels, three churches, nine
saloons, a drugstore, and even an opera house.
The iron industry was a vital part of a strategy designed by a few Portland
financiers who strove to control all related entrepreneurial ventures in the
late 1800s. Control of shipping and railroads was held under the Oregon Steam
Navigation Company, later to become the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company.
This local monopoly responded to the area's increasing demand for iron and
steel, and grew to play a key role in economic history throughout the area. (See
also Simeon Gannett Reed, Henry Villard.)
OI&S adopted to the new century by undertaking programs in land development,
selling large tracts of the 24,000 acres (97 km�) it owned, and power, building
a plant on Oswego Creek starting in 1905, and erecting power poles in subsequent
years to supply power to Oswego citizens. With the water needs of the smelters
tailing off, the recreational potential of the lake and town was freed to
develop rapidly. Oswego incorporated in 1910.
The Southern Pacific Railroad, which had acquired the P&WVR line at the end of
the 19th century, widened it from narrow to standard gauge and in 1914
electrified it, providing rapid, clean, and quiet service between Oswego and
Portland.
Passenger traffic hit its peak in 1920 with 64 trains to and from Portland
daily. Within nine years of the peak, passenger service ended and the line was
used for intermittent freight service to Portland's south waterfront up until
its abandonment in 1984. The line was preserved, however and the Willamette
Shore Trolley provides tourist rides on the line today.
One of the land developers benefiting from sales by OI&S was Paul Murphy, whose
Oswego Lake Country Club helped promote the new city as a place to "live where
you play." Murphy was instrumental in developing the first water system to
supply the western reaches of the city, and also played a key role in
encouraging the design of fine homes in the 1930s and 1940s that ultimately
would establish Oswego as an attractive place to live. In the 1940s and 1950s,
continued development helped spread Oswego's residential areas.
In 1960, Oswego annexed part of neighboring Lake Grove and was renamed Lake
Oswego.
The city has a council-manager form of government, which vests policy-making
authority in an elected, volunteer city council. The council consists of a mayor
and six councilors, all of whom are elected at-large and serve four-year terms.
Day-to-day operations are handled by an appointed, professional city manager.
Almost all of the city's employees, which include part-time staff amounting to
approximately 330 full-time equivalents, report to the city manager. This
includes the police chief, fire chief, two assistant city managers, and the
community development director.
There are nine elementary schools and two secondary schools in the Lake Oswego
School District. There are 305 school instructors responsible for 7,163
students. This amounts to an average of 23 students per instructor.
There is a rivalry between the two high schools: Lake Oswego High School (which
serves the north side of the lake) and Lakeridge High School (which serves the
south side). The city maintains 573 acres (2.3 km) of parks and open spaces.
This includes 24 developed parks, one amphitheater, one swim park, one water
sports center on the Willamette River, a community center, a public golf course
(self-financed), an indoor tennis center, seven outdoor tennis courts, and five
picnic shelters. The private Oswego Country Club and neighboring equestrian
riding club add to the recreational amenities of the city.