Fire destroys 'Bear House' in Washington Park

Damage contained, mystery of the house's name partially unraveled

The nighttime fire was contained by Portland firefighters. Photo by Henry Mills

Arson allegedly destroyed “the old Bear House,” a vacant city-owned structure on Southwest Wright Avenue at the edge of Washington Park on June 12.

“Thanks to a quick response by Portland Fire, damage to nearby trees was limited,” wrote Darcy Wheeles, president of the Arlington Heights Neighborhood Association. “The old structure is a loss. The neighbors’ homes were unscathed.

“Were it not for a neighbor who was up for an early flight and called 911 and alerted the neighbors, this could have been much worse,” Wheeles wrote.

The origin of the house’s name is cloudy, even among longtime Arlington Heights residents.

“That is what we have all been told, and it has always been called the Bear House,” Kathy Goeddel wrote. “I am suspicious that it ever housed bears. Info on the internet says it was a 1926 or 1927 Tudor shed. It is very likely located in the original location of the bears after they were moved up to the park from down on Burnside.

“However, the original zoo in City Park was moved to where the Japanese Garden is today in 1926. The bears were in a pit close to where the waterfall is in the Japanese Garden today until the zoo moved from there in 1959.

“A guess is that when the zoo moved to the site where the Japanese Gardens are today in 1925, the Tudor shed was built to store equipment for parks at the site where the original bear pit was located and was therefore called the Bear House.”