East Columbia is a neighborhood in

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—eac ...

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, located on the Columbia River

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

. It borders

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

to the southwest,

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and the Columbia Slough to the south, and Kenton to the west. To the north, it borders Bridgeton and the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...

. Much of East Columbia is made up of wetlands and industrial space, though there is more open space and residential areas towards the east. The neighborhood includes the Columbia Children's Arboretum and the Columbia Edgewater Golf Club.

History

The first European settler to arrive in the area of East Columbia was John Switzler in 1855, who operated the first post office there as well as the first Portland-Vancouver ferry. The first school, Columbia School, was opened in 1907. The neighborhood originally had its own school district, Columbia School District, which operated from 1920 to 1964, when it was absorbed into Portland Public Schools. After the school district was discontinued, the original Columbia School was turned into the Columbia Children's Arboretum, which was owned by multiple organizations until

Portland Parks & Recreation Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) is a Bureau of the City of Portland, Oregon that manages the city parks, natural areas, recreational facilities, gardens, and trails; properties that occupy more than in total. The bureau employs a total of 4,36 ...

took over in 1999. Dikes and flood protection have been in East Columbia since 1905. However, after the Vanport Flood in 1948, they were strengthened. East Columbia was annexed by the City of Portland in the early 1970s, and the East Columbia Neighborhood Association was formed in 1977.

Demographics

According to the 2020 US Census, East Columbia's racial makeup is non-Hispanic/Latino White 46%, Hispanic/Latino 25.9%, other 19.7%, Black/African American 12.5%, Asian 8.4%, American Indian/Alaska Native 4.6%, and

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians; , , , and ) are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, Indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiʻi was set ...

2.2%.

References

External links

*
Official Website

(PortlandNeighborhood.com)
East Columbia Street Tree Inventory Report
Neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon Oregon populated places on the Columbia River Northeast Portland, Oregon North Portland, Oregon {{MultnomahCountyOR-geo-stub