Lake Oswego, Oregon
"A" Avenue
 

      
Straddling busy
      "A" Avenue, the historic downtown of Lake Oswego is
      in a state of renewal. Before emerging as Portland's most affluent
      suburb in the 1900s, Lake Oswego was originally founded around
      an early iron smelter, with hopes of becoming the "Pittsburgh
      of the West". In the early 1900s, railroads connected the
      town to Portland (shown at "A" and State Streets in
      1912, below), and the lakeshore was soon dotted with the luxury
      homes of Portland's elite.


      
By the 1970s,
      the downtown had become dilapidated, with the City's residents
      taking their shopping elsewhere. Today's revitalized downtown
      caps a twenty-year effort by the City to bring people and businesses
      back to the traditional downtown.

      


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