During a visit to the Oregon Historical Society, they gave me a heads-up that historical Oregonian Newspapers were available searchable online back to 1861 through to 1972. I had done searches through Newsbank a couple of years ago, but they hadn’t had that many years cataloged, so I forgot about the service. I went home and tried it that night and the text recognition actually works! I was skeptical because I haven’t had much luck with Ancestry.com’s newspaper search. Portland residents, with a Multnomah County Library card number, you can login to Newsbank to search. For best results, add quotation marks around your search terms.

I’ve found out so much more about our house history just by doing various queries in a night than by spending several afternoons in the microfiche at the Central Library downtown. I did various searches with the names of past owners and found out quite a bit, which I will post about at some point. In search of a historical photo of our house, I tried searching variations of our address, including our pre-1932 address. Unfortunately no photos came up, but several old real estate listings came up. Surprisingly, these answered several questions we’ve had about when modifications were made to the home!

05/31/1914

This is the original permit notice prior to building our house. It confirms, once again, the builder’s name: Benjamin B. Brumwell. And only $1500 to construct!

10/25/1914

When the house was completed in October 1914, the sale notice was published with Jessie W. Lucas as the buyer. Its notable that the wife purchased the home instead of her husband. Another oddity is that its listed as a lot with improvements, but based on other documents I’ve found, I believe the house was habitable at this point.

04/21/1918

In less than 4 years, the Lucas family began trying to sell the house for $1050 more than purchase price. They don’t actually transfer ownership of the house until 1927, but based on the next several listings, they attempted to sell it almost every year.

04/28/1918

Ooo in “pink of condition,” whatever that means. Price has decreased $250 a week later and is now for sale by owner.

05/21/1918 – 5/22/1918, 5/24/1918

A month later, another $100 price decrease. I was first confused by the “R. C. P.” abbreviation, but soon realized it was shorthand for Rose City Park!

05/25/1919

Back on the market a year later. This listing also mentions a “sleeping porch,” which would confirm the time that they enclosed the back outdoor porch.

11/20/1920

Over 18 months later, another posting pops up. This is the first listing that mentions the attic area as being arranged for 2 extra bedrooms. Strangely, it also mentions “will install furnace,” but in a 1918 listing it advertised as already having a furnace.

12/12/1920

Now the second floor bedrooms are just listed as large attic. The the first mention of a garage appears as well. Also notable is that Jessie’s sister-in-law’s firm is representing the house. Jessie’s brother, Harry Price Palmer (H.P. Palmer), was a big-time real estate magnate in Portland until his death from influenza in 1919. It’s interesting to see that his wife took over his business to support her family.

04/06/1921

Fast forward 4 months. The house is listed as “SWELL.” But more notably, is the detail “OLD IVORY FINISH.” This confirms that the first owners PAINTED THE WOODWORK!!! I thought it was kept natural and painted between 1939-1949 when other renovations happened. Price has also been raised to $4750.

10/23/1921

“Buy from owner and save commission.” Ha! That’s a laugh! And of course, it didn’t work, because they owned the home until 1927. This listing also mentions fruit as a selling point. Looks they were in a somewhat desperate position because they would sell for $2000 cash vs. the $4750 price 18 months earlier.

12/06/1921

Looks like whatever the situation was 6 weeks earlier, it has abated, because the price is back up to $4750.

04/02/1922

No sale, so back once again to listing with an agent. $4300 with $1000 cash down.

09/10/1922, 09/12/1922

Now the “PERGOLA” is tried as a selling point. The owners in the 1950s cut down the pergola beams that used to cover the porch. We wished they hadn’t as we cannot replace those massive old grown beams.

09/24/1922

Yay! Fruit and a nice lawn. $4800.

04/21/1923

Fruit and flowers! Not sure what they mean by “$2000 will handle, balance to suit.”

04/29/1923, 05/06/1923

“All modern conveniences, including street improvements.” Price not listed.

03/21/1924

Looks like they decided to wallpaper in 1924. Its very likely they removed the picture and plate rail in the living room and dining room at this point. Those rooms were only painted once, and then wallpapered over leaving the blank plaster footprints of the missing trim when we removed all the paper in 2007. No other real estate listings come up after this date. The Lucas family ended up trading homes with Lester and Samantha Wilcox in 1927. They moved into their SE Portland home, and the elderly Wilcox’s moved in here.

06/30/1926

This posting was not a real estate listing, but actually a notice that our garage was a polling place in the 1926 election. I’ve also found our address listed in later elections as a local polling place.

03/21/1950

There is a big gap between when the Lucas family lived here and the sales attempts of other families. Its likely that the house was advertised other times but without the identifiable address. This 1950 ad touts the attic as 1 bedroom and sewing room. The Lorenzen family sold the home to the Clarks in 1950 and they lived here until 2006 when Agnes passed away and Dick moved into an elder care facility.

4 Responses to “Historical House Listings”

1. Stephanie says:

   December 27, 2010 at 5:19 pm

   I am continually amazed by what you’re able to dig up (and your patience in searching for it all.) Very cool!
2. Josh says:

   December 28, 2010 at 5:47 pm

   What an awesome research project! I hadn’t thought to look for house sale ads before, but I’m going to give it a shot the next time I do some house history research. Thanks for the inspiration.
3. Susie says:

   January 25, 2011 at 8:47 am

   Your blog is a gold mine! I’ve been wanting to uncover our home’s history, too, (wanted to know if it’s one of those kit homes, amongst other things). I think we’re in the same neighborhood; we live on 54th. My husband and I moved to RCP almost a year ago now–we love this neighborhood.
4. Sharon says:

   January 29, 2011 at 10:35 pm

   Wow, those are amazing. How did you find them?