Independence Historic District in
Independence, Oregon, United States is a
historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...
that was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1989.
[ The roughly 30-block district preserves approximately 250 homes and businesses of a prosperous riverside town of the 1880s.][Independence History]
from the City of Independence
History
Main Street, running along the Willamette River, is notable as an example of a late-nineteenth/early-twentieth century main street and features two commercial buildings with prominent Victorian-era towers.[Independence, Oregon: Historic Main Street]
from greatstreets.org Most of the buildings on Main Street were built of brick between 1880 and 1900.[
Independence thrived as a shipping point, by both rail and boat, for agricultural products and lumber until the 1950s.][ The city was known for its ]hops
Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...
production from the 1890s through the 1940s, dubbing itself the "Hop Capital of the World." When the demand for hops dropped, the city's fortunes began to decline.[Hops and Beer]
from Salem Online History One reason Independence is so well-preserved today is that it was bypassed by major freeways in the 1960s, so there wasn't a push to modernize the downtown.[ Today the historic district is being revitalized as a tourism destination.][
]
Individual listings within the district
The district includes five buildings separately listed on the NRHP:Walter D. Pugh
Walter David Pugh (April 4, 1863 – November 23, 1946) was an American architect based in Salem, Oregon, Salem, Oregon, United States.
The son of a carpenter, Pugh began designing buildings in Salem when there were only a few thousand residents ...
* Kersey C. Eldridge House (1914)
*J. A. Wheeler House
''J. The Jewish News of Northern California'', formerly known as ''Jweekly'', is a weekly print newspaper in Northern California, with its online edition updated daily. It is owned and operated by San Francisco Jewish Community Publications In ...
(c.1880)
* Saint Patrick's Roman Catholic Church (c. 1874)
See also
* Alcohol in Oregon
The U.S. state of Oregon has an extensive history of laws regulating the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages, dating back to 1844. It has been an alcoholic beverage control state, with the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission holding a ...
* Oregon breweries
References
External links
*
Images of historic architecture in Independence
from the University of Oregon Library digital architecture collection
Independence Historic District listing
in the Oregon Historic Sites Database of Oregon Parks and Recreation Department
Historic images of Main Street in Independence
from Salem Public Library
2009 ''Statesman-Journal'' article
about the J. S. Cooper House
{{National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places in Polk County, Oregon
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Oregon
Geography of Polk County, Oregon
Independence, Oregon
1989 establishments in Oregon