The 1920′s

Small Portland Homes of the 1920s

Adorable Portland Bungalows are known for being cozy and simple with natural designs.  They are generally of modest size, and have 1 to 1 1/2 stories, with the 1/2 usually an attic space.  They almost always have oak hardwood floors.  Because they were built in the first 30 years of the 20th century as Portland’s growth was exploding, they are scattered all over the city.  However most of them were built in Hawthorne/Division, Mt. Tabor, and Laurelhurst neighborhoods.

According to the US Census Bureau Oregon’s population was about 783,289 in 1920 and grew to 953,786 by the end of the decade.  At the same time, a building style called the “bungalow” was growing as a national home favorite.  As you can see visiting our city today,  Portland residents loved building bungalows until the Depression that started in the late 1920s.   Later other styles became popular such as the Tudor, Mediterranean, Old English and many more diverse and usually larger homes.

Bungalows give their homeowners the perfect mix of efficiency and personality, with a fun front porch to sit and soak in the vibrant sights and sounds of our city neighborhoods.

Automobiles Influence Portland’s Growth and Lifestyle

The Roaring Twenties started with excitement and celebration that World War I was over and “our boys” were home.  The decade is remembered for so many turbulent changes… prohibition of alcohol, a bit of women’s liberation from the home, the fast pace of new technologies, and ending in the “crash of 1929″ and The Great Depression.

Autos had been in mass production, thanks to inventions and patents of Henry Ford and others, since 1901.  The Curved Dash Oldsmobile was the first mass-produced car, and by 1920, Oldsmobile introduced the new Eight Pacemaker.  Looking good!

Autos took over the roads and pushed out the rail systems it took years to build.  Soon it was all cars, and the gas, stations and roads needed to drive them.  Portland’s transportation changes affected where Portland people lived and worked, and how it grew for decades to come.

As so often happens history is repeating itself!  Portland is putting in the rail systems and adding back the public transportation that saves us money and doesn’t consume as much of our natural resources.