Oregon Water, Power and Railway Company - Golf Junction Substation — Portland, OR
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Dunbar Loop
N 45° 27.510 W 122° 39.172
10T E 527140 N 5033944
In the boom of interurban railways across North America, Portland was no exception. The developing companies serving the Rose City included the short-lived Oregon Water, Power and Railway Company.
Waymark Code: WM116QC
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 08/26/2019
Views: 2
Out at Golf Links Junction, so named due to its proximity to the Waverly Golf Club, the Oregon Water, Power and Railway Company built this rather rough and handsome substation building in 1905.
The first electric railway in Oregon started service on November 1, 1889, linking Portland to the then separate City of Albina. Various companies were formed and started building a network of electric railways. And railway mergers were common during the 1890s and 1900s.
One of these companies was the Oregon Water, Power and Railway Company, which was a restructuring of the Portland City and Oregon. The OWP was created on May 28, 1903. But by June 28, 1906 it was merged with two other local railways to form the Portland Railway, Light and Power Company.
In this brief three year period, the OWP was actively building railway lines throughout what is today Metropolitan Portland. And that this included this rather handsome substation at Golf Junction, so named for the close by golf course.
OWP developed the Oaks Amusement Park which continues to thrive after a century.
Today there are few traces of the OWP thorughout the region, but things change. The substation is now known as the Sellwood Substation, a reference to the neighbourhood the substation is in.