Sherwood historian Clyde's dad (2nd from left) and uncles during a rare day of rest. Photo taken around 1950, looking South. Highway 99 West was a two-lane road then all the way to California. 99 was the most important North-South corridor in Oregon. (Actually there were two highways-- 99 West and 99 East. They split in twain in North Portland and came back together again at Junction City, Oregon. 99 East covers the East side of the Willamette River.) Clyde discusses the spiritual significance of Highway 99 on his website. The photo below shows the same spot today.
What puzzles the historian most is why 99W doesn't plow straight through Old Sherwood Town. It would have been the shortest, least costly way to go. Probably, the credit goes to Mayor Morback and a mistaken belief that the economic significance of the railroad would always be greater than the highway's. It was a mistake, but only for the business community. We kind of like the way things turned out!
4 comments:
The then/now photos are great; got any more?
It's hard to go back THEN when it was so long ago, but we'll try. Thank you for the comment!
That is a great picture, J.C. Could you find out the names of the other men? Maybe your brothers of sisters know....
Glad you asked. From left to right, they are Fred's oldest brother Benjamin, Fred List, Fred's wife's husband Lawrence Taute, Fred's brother Robert, and (looking at the camera), Fred's sister's husband Ed Suhrbier. They all lived in the Tri-county area and knew each other pretty well.
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