Lake Grove is a neighborhood of

Lake Oswego Lake Oswego () is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon, primarily in Clackamas County, with small portions extending into neighboring Multnomah and Washington counties. Located about south of Portland and surrounding the Oswego Lake, the town was ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, located west of Oswego Lake, south of the Mountain Park neighborhood, east of

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Califor ...

, and north of Rivergrove.

Description

Lake Grove was

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bear ...

ted in 1912 as a development on the western end of Oswego Lake, near the railroad line. That line, the

Portland, Eugene and Eastern Railway The Southern Pacific Red Electric Lines, also known simply as the Red Electric, was a network of interurban passenger train services operated by the Southern Pacific Transportation Company, Southern Pacific Railroad in the Willamette Valley of th ...

(PE&E), was part of the East Side Local route of the " Red Electric" passenger service beginning in 1914, a service continued by

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

after it bought PE&E a year later. A stop on that line, Goodin Station, connected the development with Tualatin to the west and Oswego and

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

to the east and north (the latter two connected using a line now used by the

Willamette Shore Trolley The Willamette Shore Trolley is a heritage railroad or heritage streetcar that operates along the west bank of the Willamette River between Portland and Lake Oswego in the U.S. state of Oregon. The right-of-way is owned by a group of local-are ...

). In 1916, Waluga Post Office was established in the area, named after the native American name for Oswego Lake; the post office was renamed Lake Grove in 1923. A May 1959 vote by residents of Oswego and Lake Grove resulted in the establishment of the city of Lake Oswego. In the 1960s, Intercity Buses, Inc. provided transit service connecting Lake Grove with downtown Lake Oswego and downtown Portland through neighborhoods on both sides of the lake, until taken over in 1970 by

TriMet TriMet, formally known as the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon, is a public agency that operates mass transit in a region that spans most of the Portland metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Oregon. Created in 1969 ...

, which continues to operate bus service through the area today. As the area developed and the automobile became the dominant mode of transportation, Lake Grove's commercial and residential development continued along (Lower) Boones Ferry Road. That road remains the main artery of Lake Grove, a prominence reinforced by its central role in the Lake Grove Village Center, a

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

"Town Center" for 21st century land-use and transportation planning purposes. Besides the town center, Lake Grove's identity is evident in the name of institutions such as Lake Grove Elementary School (which dates back to at least the 1920s), the Lake Grove Neighborhood Association (though parts of the Lake Grove area are within other neighborhood associations such as the Waluga), the Lake Grove Rural Fire District, the Lake Grove Water District and the Lake Grove Post Office serving ZIP code 97035. All these elements combined often give Lake Grove the feeling of being a separate town from Lake Oswego. Lake Grove was also part of the inspiration that led to the name of the small city of Rivergrove. The Lake Grove Elementary School is located in this area, it has the most students and is the largest elementary school in the Lake Oswego School District.

References

The article is based on information from ''

Oregon Geographic Names ''Oregon Geographic Names'' is a compilation of the origin and meaning of place names in the U.S. state of Oregon, published by the Oregon Historical Society. The book was originally published in 1928. It was compiled and edited by Lewis A. McArth ...

'' and online articles maintained by the Oswego Heritage Council, particularly
Reminiscences about early days in Lake Grove
from ''In Their Own Words'', reminiscences of early Oswego, Oregon edited and published in 1976 by the Lake Oswego Public Library
A Brief History of Lake Grove, Oregon
by Marylou Clover, Lake Oswego Preservation Society

External links

Lake Grove Neighborhood Association

Lake Grove Business Association

Lake Grove Elementary School

Lake Grove Village Center
from the city of Lake Oswego's official website {{coord, 45.4101190, -122.7137064, type:landmark_region:US_source:GNIS, format=dms, display=title Neighborhoods in Oregon Lake Oswego, Oregon 1912 establishments in Oregon