The Belle Ainsworth Jenkins Estate, located near
Beaverton, Oregon
Beaverton is a city in Washington County, in the U.S. state of Oregon with a small portion bordering Portland in the Tualatin Valley. The city is among the main cities that make up the Portland metropolitan area. Its population was 97,494 at the ...
, United States, is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
. Built starting in 1912, the main house on the property was intended as a summer home. The entire estate is owned by the
Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District
Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District (THPRD) is a special parks district located in the eastern part of Washington County in the U.S. state of Oregon. Created in 1955, the district covers all of the city of Beaverton and many of those commu ...
(THPRD). The estate has eight buildings, including the main home and a farmhouse built in 1880.
History
Ralph and Belle Jenkins purchased the property for $7,000 in 1912 for what was intended to be their summer home.
Belle was the daughter of
John C. Ainsworth
John Commingers Ainsworth (June 6, 1822 – December 30, 1893) was an American pioneer businessman and steamboat owner in Oregon. A native of Ohio, he moved west to mine gold in California before immigrating to Oregon where he piloted steamships ...
, a founder of the
Oregon Steam Navigation Company, while Ralph had been a teacher.
The Jenkins began
construction
Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...
on a large
estate
Estate or The Estate may refer to:
Law
* Estate (law), a term in common law for a person's property, entitlements and obligations
* Estates of the realm, a broad social category in the histories of certain countries.
** The Estates, representat ...
that year as an escape from
the city.
The English hunting lodge-style main home took three years to complete, and was in addition to the original farmhouse on the property.
Other facilities on the estate included fine
equestrian
The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse".
Horseback riding (or Riding in British English)
Examples of this are:
*Equestrian sports
*Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...
facilities, as well as
gardens, a
greenhouse
A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of Transparent ceramics, transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic condit ...
, an ornamental pool, a
tea house, a
carriage house
A carriage house, also called a remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack.
In Great Britain the farm building was called a cart shed. These typically were open f ...
, and a
water tower
A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...
.
Ralph Jenkins died in the 1950s; Belle died in 1963.
Burt Muir inherited the property, but sold it to developers for what was planned to be a retirement community.
Once the project failed due to a lack of water and sewer access, the developers put the estate up for sale.
The Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District purchased the Jenkins estate in 1976 for $525,000.
In 1978, the estate was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Belle Ainsworth Jenkins Estate.
The Tualatin Valley Chapter of the
American Rhododendron Society started working with THPRD in 1982 to restore the
rhododendron
''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...
garden on the property.
The park district restored the property in 1989 at a cost of $178,000.
[ Camp Rivendale, a camp for adults and children with disabilities, was created in the 1980s.][
]
Details
Jenkins Estate covers and contains of gardens.[ The structures on the property are the main house, stable, carriage house, greenhouse, tea house, water tower, pump house, and the farmhouse.][ The Herb Garden was created in 1985 with help from the Oregon School of the Blind and contains a Braille Garden planted with fragrant herbs.]
See also
* Maud and Belle Ainsworth House
The Maud and Belle Ainsworth House is a historic house located in the Southwest Hills neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Maud Ainsworth was a prominent Northwest photographer in a cuttin ...
*
References
External links
*
{{National Register of Historic Places Oregon
1880 establishments in Oregon
Houses in Washington County, Oregon
National Register of Historic Places in Washington County, Oregon
Jenkins Estate
Houses completed in 1880