Lest we forget that our city used to be a little river town, that what’s now called Southeast Portland used to be out in the country, let’s go back to 1866.
In that year, Portland was a town of a few thousand people on the west side of the Willamette River. What is now the corner of SE 20th and Stark Streets had recently been converted from the Stephens Farm to a cemetery, and the owner wanted to sell it to the city. But it was deemed too far from town, especially since Portland had yet to build bridges or pave streets.
