Laurelhurst, Portland, Oregon

File:Laurelhurst Arch.jpg

In 1909, the Ladd Estate Company sold its {{convert|462|acre|km2|adj=on}} Hazelfern Farm to the Laurelhurst Company for approximately $2 million. The name Laurelhurst was borrowed from a residential development in Seattle that Laurelhurst Company general manager Paul Murphy had recently completed. The name combined a reference to the laurel shrubbery near the Seattle development with the Old English hurst, denoting a wooded hill.{{cite book | last =Snyder | first =Eugene E. | title =Portland Names and Neighborhoods | publisher =Binford and Mort | date =1979 | location =Portland | pages =45 | isbn =978-0832303470}} The Laurelhurst Company platted a residential development of {{convert|144|acre|km2}} with the help of co-investor and landscape architect John Charles Olmsted. As the first houses were being built, the city purchased {{convert|31|acre|m2}} for $92,000 to construct Laurelhurst Park. Advertised as a "High Class Residence Park," the Laurelhurst Company placed numerous restrictions on the neighborhood. Similar to the Ladd's Addition development, the sale of alcohol was prohibited. Additionally, there were to be no apartments, hotels, motels, flats, stables, or commercial buildings, and no homes were to be sold to Chinese, Japanese, or African Americans.{{cite book

| last = MacColl | first = E. Kimbark

| title = The Growth of a City: Power and Politics in Portland, Oregon 1915-1950

| year = 1979

| publisher = The Georgian Press

| location = Portland, Oregon

| isbn = 0-9603408-1-5

}}

The Laurelhurst Neighborhood Association (LNA) met as massive changes to Portland's transportation options were discussed in the 1970s, which led to the creation of Trimet MAX Light Rail in the 1980s. LNA and the community endorsed light rail being placed in the Banfield corridor, but was strongly opposed to alignment along the Burnside corridor, either a busway or light rail. A 1978 petition submitted by 34 neighbors objected "to any parking, widening, or lane changes on East Burnside Street in the Laurelhurst area now or in the future", calling it "a serious threat" to the neighborhood, that would lower property values, and be "a definite threat to our daily living pattern and destroy our neighborhood." The Portland-wide study noted a requirement to minimize projects "specifically in the Laurelhurst area".{{Cite web |title=Banfield Transitway Project, Multnomah County: Hearing and Project Report |work=TriMet/ODOT |date=1978 |access-date=28 June 2020 |url= https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=oscdl_trimet|pages=A-11,72,133}} KXL-FM reported proximity to Laurelhurst Park was a selling point for realtors in this neighborhood until the homeless camp situation.{{Cite web|date=May 12, 2021|title=Property Owners In Laurelhurst Can't Sell Due To Homeless Campers|url=https://www.kxl.com/property-owners-in-laurelhurst-cant-sell-due-to-homeless-campers/|access-date=2021-05-14|publisher=KXL-FM|language=en-US}}

In 1913 a racial covenant governing development of Laurelhurst mandated "...nor shall the same or any part thereof be in any manner used or occupied by Chinese, Japanese or negroes, except that persons of said races may be employed as servants by residents."{{Cite web|last=Njus|first=Elliot|date=May 22, 2018|title=Racist restrictions linger in property deeds, and Portland historians want help finding them|url=https://www.oregonlive.com/news/erry-2018/05/fcd13cb4387071/racist_restrictions_now_illega.html|access-date=2022-02-07|website=oregonlive|language=en}}

A 1934 redlining map of Portland assigned the areas within current Laurelhurst boundaries with a blue grade, or "Still Desirable." Regarding the B19 tract, mapmakers noted "homogenous surroundings, improvements, and population" as among the neighborhood's favorable influences and called the subdivision's origins "a well conceived promotion, honestly administered"; regarding inhabitants, no foreign-born or Black inhabitants were reported.{{Cite web|title=Mapping Inequality|url=https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/|access-date=2020-07-04|website=dsl.richmond.edu|language=en}}

The official neighborhood representative Laurelhurst Neighborhood Association sought to prevent homeless camps within {{Convert|1,000|ft|m}} of schools, parks and where children congregate and further proposing that those who camp in this area be fined up to $100 or sent to jail for up to 30 days.{{Cite news|last=Harbarger|first=Molly|date=July 14, 2017|title=Laurelhurst neighborhood asks city to ban homeless camping near parks, schools|url=https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2017/07/laurelhurst_neighborhood_asks.html|access-date=2020-12-11|newspaper=The Oregonian|language=en}} Its members also vocally opposed development in the neighborhood to increase housing availability.{{Cite web|last=Jaywork|first=Casey|date=January 29, 2018|title=Three cities, one housing crisis |website=Cascadia Magazine|url=https://www.cascadiamagazine.org/news/three-cities-one-housing-crisis/|access-date=2020-12-11|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|last=Monahan|first=Rachel|date=June 21, 2017|title=Portland's Laurelhurst Neighborhood Fights to Keep the Housing Crisis Out|url=https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2017/06/21/portlands-laurelhurst-neighborhood-fights-to-keep-the-housing-crisis-out/|access-date=2020-12-11|newspaper=Willamette Week|language=en-US}}

The Laurelhurst School was opened in 1918 and was originally named Scott School, after the first editor of The Oregonian. It was renamed to Laurelhurst School in 1925 along with the construction of the building that sits there today.{{Cite web |title=About Us / History |url=https://www.pps.net/Page/5150 |access-date=2024-09-21 |website=www.pps.net |language=en}}

{{Portal|National Register of Historic Places|Oregon}}

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Northeast Portland, Oregon
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Southeast Portland, Oregon

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{{Commons category|Laurelhurst, Portland, Oregon}}

• [http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/finder/index.cfm?action=ViewPark&PropertyID=224 Portland Parks & Recreation: Laurelhurst Park]
• [https://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/article/508294 Laurelhurst Street Tree Inventory Report]

{{Laurelhurst, Portland, Oregon}}

{{Portland neighborhoods}}

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Portland, Oregon

Category:Neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon

Category:Northeast Portland, Oregon

Category:Southeast Portland, Oregon