Before 2002, this was just another outdoorsy city on the West Coast; after 2008, it’s been just one more mid-size metro area with an increasingly lively central city. But something strange and wonderful happened in between.
Cover of October 1967 American Cycling magazineshows the nation’s top racers at Alpenrose Velodrome.(Photos by Peter Hoffman) While many people think of only bike commuters and naked rides when the topic of cycling in Portland comes up, our city also has a proud tradition when it comes to racing. We shared a glimpse of that … Read more
“The overall goal is to arrive at a more favorable balance between the city and the car, between the erosion of the city by cars and the attrition of automobiles by the city.”— Alan Webber, in a 1971 memo created for City Commissioner Neil Goldschmidt This morning a reader tipped us off to a fascinating … Read more
“… it being the object and intent of this act to provide for pedestrians and bicycles a highway separate from that used by teams and horsemen.”— Excerpt from House Bill 63 The more I read about Oregon’s tenth governor, T.T. Geer, the more intriguing this man becomes. As we shared back in 2009, Governor Geer … Read more
This happened 10 years ago. (Photos by Ayleen Crotty and Amy Stork)
Governor Geer, bike lover.(Photo: Oregon State Library) Remember Oregon’s tenth governor, Theodore T. Geer? He’s the great Oregonian who, in May of 1900, rode his bike from the capital in Salem to Champoeg to establish a monument to an historic vote that took place there in 1843. That vote paved the way to Oregon statehood … Read more
Employees of the Oregon State Highway Division appear in a 1972 article about bicycling’s rise in popularity. See below for images from Oregon newspapers from as far back as 1899.
As many of you head to Salem for the Oregon Active Transportation Summit (it begins tomorrow!), I thought it’d be fun to take a step back in our history. 40 years ago, on June 19th 1971, dozens of Portlanders got on their bikes and rode to Salem for the signing of HB 1700, the Bicycle … Read more
Photographer James Mason as a young boy in Beaverton in 1953.– See his photos below – (All images © James Mason) A few months ago, a man named James Mason popped up on the always interesting OBRA email list. He shared a link to photographs of bicycle racing in Portland he took back in the … Read more
“Public streets are for the movement of people, not long-term storage of vehicles.”— from Bicycle Facilities for Portland: A Comprehensive Plan, 1974 A two-way cycle track at NE Glisan and 39th, a physically separated bikeway on SE 52nd, on-street parking removal to make room for bike traffic, painted crosswalks specifically for bikes (crossbikes?), a multi-use … Read more
[This article was written by Kelly Dodd. It first appeared in the June 2010 issue of Jan Heine’s Bicycle Quarterly magazine and is being published here with the author’s permission. We are extremely grateful for the opportunity to share this historical account of a Portland bicycling pioneer, devoted advocate, and legendary bike racer.] Frans Pauwels … Read more
“By the 1970s, less than thirty of the two hundred seventy… buildings downtown remained…When did Portland start to trade its most unique built feature for acres and acres of pay by the hour asphalt?” — Dan Haneckow, historian A recent post on local historian Dan Haneckow’s Cafe Unknown blog, delved into a sad part of … Read more