Hood River, Oregon
Oak Street

      


      
Log Wagon
      arrives in Hood River (1902)

      
The City of Hood
      River was founded in 1864 on the steep south bank of the Columbia
      River, at the mouth of the Hood River. The area is loaded with
      history, with the Columbia Gorge serving as a major trade route
      through the Cascade Range for Native Americans, and later as
      the route used by the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the Oregon
      Trail settlers.


      
By the 1900s,
      Hood River had grown rapidly as the shipping hub for timber and
      fruit exports from the lush Hood River Valley. Oak Avenue (below,
      circa 1920) became the busy main street. But by the 1980s, the
      timber economy had collapsed across much of the Pacific Northwest,
      and fruit packing operations at Hood River had slowed. During
      the following decades, the City embarked on a dramatic economic
      makeover that continued to embrace the traditional industries,
      but also focused on tourism as the new economic centerpiece.
      This strategy required renewed attention to downtown infrastructure
      to lure new business into the historic storefronts.

      


      
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 All images
      are ©Tom Kloster, 2001, and may only be used by permission