Mount Tabor, Oregon
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Mount Tabor is a
neighborhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...
in
Southeast Portland Southeast Portland is one of the sextants of Portland, Oregon. Boundaries and features Southeast Portland stretches from the warehouses along the Willamette River through historic Ladd's Addition to the Hawthorne and Belmont districts out to ...
that takes its name from the volcanic cinder cone and city
park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...
on the volcano that it surrounds, in the
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
. The name refers to
Mount Tabor, Israel Mount Tabor ( ; ; ), sometimes spelled Mount Thabor, is a large hill of biblical significance in Lower Galilee, northern Israel, at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley, west of the Sea of Galilee. In the Hebrew Bible (Joshua, Judges), Mount ...
. It was named by Plympton Kelly, son of
Oregon City Oregon City is the county seat of Clackamas County, Oregon, United States, located on the Willamette River near the southern limits of the Portland metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 37,572. Established in 1829 ...
pioneer resident Clinton Kelly.


Neighborhood

The Mount Tabor neighborhood lies between SE 49th Ave. (SE 50th Ave. south of SE Hawthorne Blvd.) on the west and SE 76th Ave. on the east, and between E Burnside St. on the north and SE Division St. on the south. It is bordered by Sunnyside and
Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...
on the west, North Tabor on the north and west, Montavilla on the north and east, and South Tabor on the south. Mount Tabor Park is the neighborhood's principal feature. The campus of
Warner Pacific University Warner Pacific University is a Private university, private Christian university in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1937, the university is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Northwest Commission on ...
(affiliated with the
Church of God (Anderson) Church of God is a name used by numerous denominational bodies. The largest denomination with this name is the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee). Adventist Churches of God * Church of God General Conference (Church of God of the ...
) is located just south of the park. The neighborhood also marks the eastern end of the Hawthorne District. The campus of
Western Seminary Western Seminary is an interdenominational Evangelical Christian seminary with campuses in Portland, Oregon and San Jose, California. Western Seminary also has online-only degrees and programs and offers cohorts at partner churches around the U. ...
is located on the western slope, overlooking downtown Portland. Portland Public Schools serves the area's public schools, with Glencoe Elementary and Mount Tabor Middle School, which sends graduates to Franklin High School.


History

Before becoming part of Portland in 1905, Mount Tabor was a rural farming community dating back to the 1850s. After a large wildfire burnt much of Mount Tabor's landscape in 1846, trails and
farmhouse FarmHouse (FH) is a men's social fraternity founded at the University of Missouri on April 15, 1905. It became a national organization in 1921. Today FarmHouse has 34 active chapters in the United States and Canada.FarmHouse Fraternity New Memb ...
s began to appear in the area. In 1903, John C. Olmstead submitted a report to Portland that the city should acquire "considerable land on this prominent and beautiful hill", and it was annexed two years later. It became a city-recognized neighborhood (encompassing a far smaller area than its historical boundaries) in 1974.


Reservoir controversy

The Mount Tabor reservoirs, along with those in Portland's Washington Park, have been the subject of a decade-long controversy surrounding lucrative engineering contracts to replace the historic open reservoirs with underground storage tanks. Concern has been raised about the possible relationship between City officials and the engineering firms receiving the no-bid reservoir decommissioning contracts; and about the role these parties may have played in lobbying for pro-underground-tank modifications (the " LT2" rule) to the
Safe Drinking Water Act The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) is the primary federal law in the United States intended to ensure safe drinking water for the public. Pursuant to the act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to set standards for drinking wa ...
. On June 15, 2011, a man was observed
urinating Urination is the release of urine from the bladder through the urethra in placental mammals, or through the cloaca in other vertebrates. It is the urinary system's form of excretion. It is also known medically as micturition, voiding, uresi ...
in a nearly 8,000,000 gallon reservoir, prompting city officials to drain the water at a cost of around $36,000. Under LT2 several hundred of the country's historic open reservoirs were decommissioned. Following pressure from other open-reservoir cities, in 2011 the EPA softened its stance on the LT2 rule and allowed the country's remaining open reservoirs to halt burial plans; but despite public outcry Mount Tabor's open reservoirs remained slated for decommissioning. In August 2015, the Portland City Council passed a unanimous vote to decommission the three open reservoirs. After decommissioning, the three open reservoirs no longer supplied drinking water but generally remained filled with water. However, in 2021, structural concerns emerged related to Reservoir 6 and it has since remained drained.


See also

* Chauncey Hosford, an early owner of the property at the summit of Mount Tabor * Statue of Harvey W. Scott, a sculpture by
Gutzon Borglum John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum (March 25, 1867 – March 6, 1941) was an American sculpture, sculptor best known for his work on Mount Rushmore. He is also associated with various other public works of art across the U.S., including Stone Moun ...


References


Further reading


Mount Tabor Park
in ''
The Oregon Encyclopedia ''The Oregon Encyclopedia of History and Culture'' is a collaborative encyclopedia focused on the history and culture of the U.S. state of Oregon. Description The encyclopedia is a project of Portland State University's History Department, the O ...
''
Mount Tabor: Architectural Heritage, 1850–1930
(by Jan Caplener)

(by Grant Nelson)
East Buttes, Terraces And Wetlands Conservation Plan
Bureau of Planning, Portland, Oregon (1993)


External links



(
USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an government agency, agency of the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geograp ...
Cascades Volcanic Observatory)
Friends of the ReservoirsFriends of Mount Tabor
a non-profit group founded in 2000

on KPOJ, about traffic on Mount Tabor * ttps://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/article/549895 Mt. Tabor Street Tree Inventory Report {{Volcanoes of Oregon Neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon