History of Goose Hollow
Est. 1845
Though Portland was itself incorporated in 1851 with a population of a little more than 800 residents, the first house in Goose Hollow was build by Daniel Lownsdale six years earlier. His land claim covered the North end of "the flats" in current Goose Hollow and included what is now King's Heights. Lownsdale operated a tannery on the current site of the MAC and PGE Park, the first one in the Northwest. This claim was later purchased by King when Lownsdale bought out Pettygrove's land, closer to the river. From the oldest histories, it seems clear that when Carter staked his claim on the South end of Goose Hollow and built his house in 1851 the area was already known as Goose Hollow.
Urban Myth suggests that the name was not just plucked from thin air. Various women raised geese in the commons around Tanner Creek at the foot of the West Hills while their husbands hunted for gold or farmed. Over time, the flocks of geese became mixed and disputes arose as to who owned the geese. As reported in the Oregonian newspaper in 1890, the "women not only pulled goose feathers, but pulled hair." The matter got into court, and Police Judge J. F. McCoy, unable to sort out the geese, made a Solomonic decision. He sent a deputy out to Goose Hollow to round up all the flocks and divide the geese equally among the complainants. He then closed the matter by threatening to incarcerate the "first woman to start another ruckus over geese."
But the name was lost during a half century of dramatic development in the area. Former Mayor Bud Clark, who has run a tavern in the neighborhood for over 40 years, chose the name Goose Hollow Inn for his tavern in the interest of rekindling civic regard for the neighborhood and its history. And though residents may no longer be harvesting goose feathers, many reminders of it remain in the area. One can find many images of geese scattered throughout the neighborhood, though an accurate census has yet to be conducted.
Goose Hollow is actually a collection of the five historic neighborhoods comprising the Goose Hollow Foothills League. One of them, Kings Hill, has been designated a Historic District and is the site of a fine collection of turn of the century Portland residential architecture. Goose Hollow itself is the site of a pond, long since drained, that was the primary residence for the substantial goose population in the late nineteenth century. Gander Ridge and Vista Ridge were (and are) at the foot of Portland Heights and at the edge of the bowl that makes downtown Portland and Goose Hollow. The "uptown" part of the neighborhood, east of PGE Park and north of Lincoln High School, was once called, at least in part, the Lownsdale district, and was heavily residential in character. Like Goose Hollow, it was becoming a warehouse and light manufacturing area, but is now undergoing redevelopment toward mixed residential/commercial activities.
Historical photos and maps can be found here as part of the Portland Development Commission's (PDC) presentation to the neighborhood of potential urban renewal.