@pdx-streetcars
A companion account for the "Portland Streetcar History" research wiki curated by Cameron Booth. Lots of photos, maps, remnants, and research musings. Visit the wiki at: https://bit.ly/pdxstreetcars
Yes, I'm still finding new streetcar companies. The 72nd (!!) company added to the wiki is the Oregon City & Suburban Railway Co., who wanted to build from Oswego to West Linn, then over a new bridge to Oregon City and out to Redland. They failed.
pdx-streetcar-history.notion.site/Oregon-City-...
Yes, I'm still finding new streetcar companies. The 72nd (!!) company added to the wiki is the Oregon City & Suburban Railway Co., who wanted to build from Oswego to West Linn, then over a new bridge to Oregon City and out to Redland. They failed.
pdx-streetcar-history.notion.site/Oregon-City-...
WEEKLY SITE UPDATE: 3/8/2026
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Articles: 2,360 (+24 this week)
Maps: 143 (—)
Streetcar companies: 71 (—)
Streetcar lines: 80 (—)
Interurban lines: 23 (—)
People: 9 (—)
Rolling stock: 17 (—)
Remnants/Removals: 74 (—)
Main area of focus: Ford-street and Vista Bridges
I could maybe see the Vista Bridge plaque being like the cornerstone of a building marking the start of work on the project if it was laid in (late) December 1925. The other plaque just seems like they got bad historical information.
Maybe – but doubtfully – for the Vista Bridge, but the other plaque clearly states "built" for the two erroneous dates.
The commemorative plaque on the Vista Bridge, showing a date of 1925. Construction began in January 1926 and the bridge was officially opened to traffic on December 6, 1926.
The plaque on the current Terwilliger Bridge, showing a construction date of 1927 for the first Terwilliger Bridge (it should be 1928); and a date of 1903 for the Ford Street Bridge (it should be 1904).
Side note: What is it with bridge plaques in Portland all being a year too early with their dates? The Vista Bridge plaque says 1925, when construction started and finished in 1926. The plaque for the Terwilliger Bridge gets both the original span and the Ford Street bridge's dates wrong as well!
Over the years, Jefferson Street has had a cable car, electric streetcar and modern light rail run along it – I think 5th Avenue is the only other street that can say that!
Yes, I noted that in the thread. I prefer the name "Burlingame viaduct" for it – at the time, the connection to it was given as being Seventh street, not Terwilliger boulevard, so I like the name that relates to its location in the city.
Finally, the streetcars were transferred to the permanent tracks embedded in the concrete deck of the bridge on October 28, 1926, although the official opening of the bridge to other traffic wasn't held until December 6. Streetcar service was maintained throughout construction without interruption.
A view of the Vista Bridge under construction on September 3, 1926. The new temporary streetcar track on the deck can be seen to the right of the photograph, with the permanent tracks to its left. Photo: Portland City Archives
On September 2, 1926, the deck of the new bridge was finished to a point where a temporary track could be laid on the new bridge. Streetcars were moved off the old bridge and it was demolished. The city bought the steel off the contractors for $3500 to reuse on the Burlingame viaduct (1928–1993).
A view of the new concrete Vista Bridge under construction in April, 1926. The old steel Ford Street Bridge is behind it, to the east. A streetcar can be seen crossing the old bridge.
Construction of the new bridge commenced in January 1926, directly adjacent to the old Ford St viaduct. Streetcar service was maintained over the old structure, as this photo shows – the unfinished concrete arch of the new bridge is in front of the old steel viaduct, upon which a streetcar runs.
The city worked out a deal with PRL&P where the traction company would be forgiven $32,000 in liens against it if the city could take over ownership of the bridge with an eye to replacing it with a more modern structure – this became the Vista Bridge. Design and financing took over three years.
However, by the 1920s, the narrow bridge was showing its age. Vehicles could not pass streetcars on the narrow deck, and the city limited maximum speeds on the bridge to just 10mph. The bridge also earned a reputation as a suicide hot spot after numerous fatal leaps.
The old Ford Street bridge that preceded the Vista Bridge was built by the first Portland Railway Co. in 1904 to carry the new Portland Heights streetcar line across the Jefferson St canyon. They (and their successor companies) owned it, but allowed vehicular traffic to cross it for the public good.
And here's an amazing visualization of the proposed Vista Bridge, also from 1922. Long before Photoshop or computer renderings, someone in the city's public works department has painted this into a photograph. Sure, the perspective is a bit wonky, but this is still beautiful work!
The city paid for a quarter of the cost of the bridge out of its bridge fund; the streetcar company (PEPCO) paid another quarter, and the rest was paid for by residents in an assessment district in the Heights because they wanted something fancier than the minimum engineering requirements.
An early elevation drawing of the Vista Avenue Bridge from 1922, four years before it was built. Note the Council Crest streetcar drawn in loving and accurate detail crossing the bridge.
Black and white photo of a Class P-3 streetcar moving east on Howard Park Avenue. It has a Watson fender on the front, with a sign advertising a performance by Douglas Fairbanks. TTC Fonds 16, Series 2285, Item 75.
Fans of vintage transit: we recently digitized Series 2285! It documents streetcars and other vehicles owned by the Toronto Railway Company just before it was incorporated into the newly-formed TTC in 1921.
https://ow.ly/aSGr50YmHXg
Cool! Yes, I have the east side approach tracks in my growing database of streetcar and interurban remnants here:
pdx-streetcar-history.notion.site/First-Steel-...
I've always liked this shot (from the PGE website, don't know date or line, but it looks like the same car). Presumably the lower central section was easier for women with the new, slimmer skirts to negotiate.
It basically is: the low-slung entrance/conductor's cab between the cars was able to rotate independently as the car went around corners.
Apart from some early experiments with splicing together old horsecars, Portland only had one real "Frankenstein" car. Known as "the Dragon," it took two old standard cars in 1914 and slung a conductor's vestibule between them. Underpowered and slow, it was not a success.
Streetcars sometimes got stitched together into weird configurations, but this is definitely one of the strangest that I've seen!
New on the wiki: the full newspaper report on the November 1, 1893 Madison-street bridge streetcar disaster, where seven lives were lost as the East Side Railway's car "Inez" fell through the open draw of the bridge.
pdx-streetcar-history.notion.site/It-Was-Swift...
New on the wiki: the full newspaper report on the November 1, 1893 Madison-street bridge streetcar disaster, where seven lives were lost as the East Side Railway's car "Inez" fell through the open draw of the bridge.
pdx-streetcar-history.notion.site/It-Was-Swift...
I've broken the short-lived Country Club spur line off into its own page on the site, instead of having information about it buried on the Rose City Park line's page.
pdx-streetcar-history.notion.site/Country-Club...
I've broken the short-lived Country Club spur line off into its own page on the site, instead of having information about it buried on the Rose City Park line's page.
pdx-streetcar-history.notion.site/Country-Club...
I will never get over the fact that newspapers used to publish full addresses of everyone they mentioned.
Live from my morning commute: A streetcar mosaic on a bench seat at the Kenton/N Denver MAX station.
A 1956 photo of the partially-cleared area that would soon become the Memorial Coliseum hides a piece of streetcar history down at the bottom right (see detail) – the east side approach to the first Steel Bridge (1888–1912) and an abutment on the shore. Track is still visible on the approach.