WCHO: Garden Home History Project

An aerial view of Garden Home, Oregon, in 1954. The photograph is facing east, and shows Oleson Road running horizontally and Garden Home Road running vertically. Garden Home School is the large, light building in the foreground with the old original school building still attached in what is now the south parking lot. The Garden Home Feed and Seed building, east of the intersection, has no roof structure. The Community Church is east of the feed store, where 71st Avenue is now. The two-story store at the intersection, variously named Upchurch, Throckmortons or the "White Store," burned in 1956. A nut orchard lies northeast of the intersection where a Thriftway grocery store would be built in 1957. This photograph was shot with a Rolleiflex camera by local resident Otto Arndt on May 4, 1954. Arndt took numerous aerial photographs of the Garden Home area on flights he chartered out of the Bernard Airport in Beaverton, all of them flown by pilot Walt Rupert. This image was digitized from a 2 1/4" negative.

The train station in Garden Home, Oregon, in 1911. This was a station in the Oregon Electric Railway (OER) system; note the electric lines above the trains. The OER system linked Portland to Salem, and later extended to Eugene. At the Garden Home station, a branch line forked west to Forest Grove. The original copy of this photograph is in the collection of the Washington County Museum.

Peter Gertsch pulling his prize bull at the Gertsch Family's Shattuck Dairy at Garden Home, Oregon in the early 1900s. Other area residents with wagons hauling milk appear behind him, alongside a herd of dairy cows, the dairy barn, and other outbuildings. A log road appears in the foreground. The Gertsch Family were Swiss immigrants who originally settled in Garden Home in the 1890s. The family's dairy was on the west side of Oleson Road, north of the Frank Farm. Family members ran the dairy in the same location until the 1950s. This photograph may depict Peter Gertsch Sr. (died 1895) or his son, Peter Gertsch (born 1895).

Mark Whitney in front of Whitney's Cannery in Garden Home, Oregon, 1950. Mark and Leona Whitney's business provided canning services to local residents, who could bring in their own fruits and vegetables to be canned in bulk. The Cannery was located on the north side of Garden Home Road at the junction with Multnomah Boulevard.

The Garden Home Community Church on SW Garden Home Road at SW 71st Avenue. This building, also known as the Garden Home Community Methodist Church, was built in 1918. It was open to members of all denominations. The building was sold to the West Hills Unitarian Fellowship in 1961, who moved it to a different site. As of the 2010s, the building remains in use by the Unitarian Church.

Dorothy Johnson standing in front of the Garden Home, Oregon, Post Office in April 1945, just after the death of President Franklin Roosevelt. She is holding flowers in honor of his death. Roosevelt's portrait and a flag appear in the window. Jean Johnson, Dorothy's mother, took the photograph. Dorothy's father, Gust Johnson, ran the Texaco gas station and garage in Garden Home. Dorothy went on to become Miss Oregon and the first runner-up to Miss America in 1955.

Looking west down SW Garden Home Road in 1911. The "Red Store," an all-purpose grocery store, appears in the foreground.

Jean Johnson in local Volunteer Beaverton Fire Department truck in front of Garden Home School in the 1950s. Jean's husband, Gust Johnson, ran the Texaco gas station and garage in Garden Home.

Mrs. Ruth Frank driving a Houghton carriage pulled by a show horse named Aloma. Ruth was the wife of Aaron Frank, an executive at the Meier & Frank Department Store in Portland. The Franks owned a house and a stable of show horses in Garden Home. They spent their summers in Garden Home beginning in the 1920s and later moved there full-time.

The newly constructed Garden Home School in 1912. This was its second year of operation; during its first year, classes were held upstairs in the Jager Store across the street. The schoolhouse was completed by September 1912 and stood on the northwest corner of Rex (now Oleson) and Nichol (now Garden Home) roads, and had two classrooms.

A group portrait of the students from the Garden Home School, all grades, standing on the front steps of the Jager Store in 1911. This was the founding year of Garden Home School. It was held upstairs in the Jager Store in 1911 before moving to its own building the next year. The Jager Store was also known as the "White Store" and was located on what is now the southeast corner of Oleson and Garden Home Road.

The 1957 grand opening of Lamb’s Thriftway, a supermarket in Garden Home, Oregon. Products including Coca-Cola, Carnation milk, bananas and other items appear in displays. Forrest Lamb, one of the owners and developers of the store, stands at first checkout register. The Thriftway building was on the northeast corner of the intersection of Garden Home and Oleson roads.