Selection from “History of Milwaukie, OR”
by Charles Oluf Olson

The early promise of a bright future for Milwaukie was not to be realized immediately.  Lot Whitcomb’s town, despite agricultural and industrial prestige and activities, did not grow into the metropolis of its founder’s dreams.  It became and remained a typical pioneer village.  Out of it came a notable cultural, educational, and political leadership, recognized throughout the entire area, but no master hand or spark was present to lift it to greatness.  Thus it stood through its first half century, while its neighbors attained growth and distinction.
 
It was problems and dangers which finally energized the community.  The ever-present hazard of the powder houses which had been built along the railroad, coupled with the realization of the miserable conditions of streets and townsite, aroused the citizens to the needs of incorporation.  The original petition, signed by a number of townspeople in 1901 began the action, at last to result in city status on February 4, 1903.

The first Council consisted of Mayor William Shindler, Owen J. Roberts, president, Casper Kerr, Gottlieb Keller and James Reid.  The recorder was F.H. Lechler; the first treasurer, Charles McCann and the first Marshall, Jess Keck.  The first “city hall” was in rented quarters at the southwest corner of Main and Jefferson Streets.

At the first Council meeting on June 2, 1903 action was started on a number of matters, one of which was to culminate in Ordinance Number One, under date of July 3, 1903: “Providing for the regulation of the storage of gunpowder, dynamite, giant powder, nitroglycerine and all other explosive materials and to prevent its storage within the limits of the Town of Milwaukie.”  The provisions of this act resolved a potentially dangerous situation.  Hoboes, travelling along the railroad, were erecting makeshift shelters for themselves and lighting fires beside the powder house, and apprehension grew that a major disaster could occur.

The neglect of years descended on the Council like an avalanche.  There was no money, a need the city officials met by a donation of $1 each to get the city into business.  A poll tax of $2 was soon authorized and collected.  Sidewalks needed to be built; streets had to be improved; sewers and streetlights had to be provided; fire protection was desperately needed.  A volunteer department with man-drawn hose carts was organized in 1904.  There was no municipal water system.  Policing of the municipality demanded attention.  The solution of these and other problems formed the grist for the City Hall mill for the coming years.

Ordinances providing for the manner in which street improvements were to be made, prohibiting the riding of bicycles on sidewalks, punishment of disorderly persons, curfew, regulation of the roaming of livestock on the streets, soon followed.

Fire protection, from the formation of the volunteer unit of 1904, using horse or man drawn hose carts, proceeded through the stages of paid fireman, supplemented by an organized unit of citizens trained and ready for emergencies, to the full-fledged and efficient fire department of the present day.

City water distribution had the attention of the Council early, and in 1904 a franchise was granted to F.W. Birkemeier and B.M. Fisch to build tanks, lay mains and provide water.  Thirty years later by vote of the people Milwaukie established its own deep well system which has been enlarged and extended to provide an adequate supply of water to its residents.

Street lighting was arranged in 1906 and sidewalk construction and street paving followed in order.  Franchises for telephone, gas and electric services were approved, and the Beaverton and Willsburg railway was authorized to lay ‘tracts’ along Milwaukie streets.

City police had a dual problem of control, that of the local citizenry, and also of those persons who came from the outside, and whose activities were often questionable.  Ordinances often dealt with intimate matters of conduct in places of amusement and elsewhere.  Violators were lodged in ‘private’ jails for a time, and afterwards in the county jail in Oregon City.  Milwaukie never maintained a city jail, and when in the building of the new City Hall the choice had to be made between providing for a jail or a library, the library won.

It was in 1938 that Milwaukie built its own City Hall, standing on the site of the early city schools.  The previous home of the city fathers was a building on Monroe Street.  In 1944, after lengthy study of city government forms, the citizens voted for the city manager type.  Milwaukie was one of the first of Willamette Valley cities to establish an adequate sewage disposal plant and system.

The year 1950, one hundred years from its founding, Milwaukie was a city of but little more than 5,000 people.  Within the few intervening years, by orderly annexation and growth, its area and population had increased rapidly.  A city covering a large part of northern Clackamas County could then be confidently envisioned.

If you are interested in obtaining a complete copy of “The History of Milwaukie, OR” you should contact the Milwaukie Historical Society at (503) 659-5780.  You can also view the document at Milwaukie’s Ledding Library (10660 SE 21st Ave., Milwaukie, OR 97222), but it is not available for circulation.
 

Last updated: 11/13/2009