Memories of Forestry Center fire live on
An enhanced photo captures the sense of the horrifying event
Photos and accounts of the 1964 fire that destroyed the “world’s largest log cabin”—the Forestry Center built for the 1905 World’s Fair—are part of the water one swims in as a Northwest Portland resident. Historic markers at Old Forestry Commons, the condo complex built on the site of the center’s ashes—and where we lived for 32 years—were engraved with fiery images that had lost their impact through familiarity.
When I saw a vivid color photo of men pushing a scorched car from the inferno, the realism struck me afresh. When I learned it was AI-enhanced, my first thought was that the street scene was Photoshopped in from an unrelated bombing scene in another part of the world.
But Paul Hoopes, who sent the picture, told me the enhancement was limited to colorizing a black-and-white Oregonian cover photo and increasing its clarity. Hoopes posted it on the We Grew up in Willamette Heights Facebook page. He qualified. His family moved to Willamette Heights in 1960 when he was 2, and stayed until 1980.
He and his family were at the coast on Aug. 17, 1964, when the flames did their worst, but the memories of a 6-year-old remain clear.
“The thing I remember is hearing about windows at Montgomery Ward breaking from the heat,” he said.
He had walked among the cathedral of tall timbers forming the center’s colonnade, but his mind was drawn to something outside.
“My favorite thing to do was to play on the train they had there,” he said. “One of the pictures I sent shows firefighters near the train.”
He was not the only person to remember it.
In comments posted online, longtime residents shared recollections:
L. Cleland
“My grade schools in the 1950s had annual trips to the building. We could see the smoke from miles away. The locomotive outside the building was welded to the tracks.”
Grant Keltner
“It was the granddaddy of all fires. … I don’t think I’ll ever see anything like it again. The flames were almost 10 stories high. The fire illuminated the sky for miles. The neighborhood was an orange glow. The windows on the entire south side of the Montgomery Park building were blown out; the heat was so intense that the windows were popping out. Glass was falling down to the street below. Ashes the size of large snowflakes fell to the ground within a mile of the structure. It was surreal. An amazing sight.”
Jay Murray
“My grandfather was one of the carpenters on the Forestry Center build. He was so proud of the building. We used to go four or five times a year and spend most of the day there. … The inside of the building was truly magnificent.
“The night it burnt we were living in Gresham. They heard about the fire on the radio. My mom and dad got us up and we drove to parking lot and watched it burn to the ground. It was the saddest thing I have ever seen. My grandfather just stood in the parking lot and cried. I don’t think he ever got over it.
Joel Pickett
“I was working that night just below the Forestry Center on Northwest Nicolai. The street was closed as fire trucks were working on the fire from below and extinguishing trees that were on fire on the hill.”
Candi Owens
“It was a majestic building. I played there when I was a kid. The scale of [the center] was awesome, and it was quite a sight watching it burn when I was 10.”
David Dooley
“I remember when it caught fire. The flames were so intense, the heat melted car windshields.”
J. Fraley
“I was 6 years old at the time of the fire. I was with my family across the street from the Forestry building when it caught fire. … I can remember thinking the world was going to burn down. The fire was horrific.”
Thank you for the great description and accompanying personal comments concerning this major disaster in Portland’s history; I moved here the following year and have never until now realized its impact.