Long before the city developed the Memorial Coliseum, this area served as a gathering place and focal point for African-American culture in our city. As chronicled in Robert Dietsche’s book, “Jumptown,” jazz clubs like the Dude Ranch and the Chicken Coop were hopping, and they became important venues for established artists like Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker, as well as up-and-coming local talent.

The neighborhood’s origins and unique history are part of the larger story of the post-war Pacific Northwest. A thriving shipbuilding industry and bustling port attracted workers from the American South, bringing with them cultural influences and artistic talent to this one-of-a-kind “jazz village.” Cheap hydroelectric power fueled the area’s economic growth, and the creativity and energy of the district strongly influenced Portland’s post-war music and culture.

From the book’s introduction:

Without Franklin Delano Roosevelt, two congressmen, and a man from Salem, Oregon, the story of jazz in Portland would be completely different. It must have been Gunther Schuller who said that region and accident are the two most powerful factors in the development of jazz. You can double that for Portland. If it were not for the completion of Bonneville dam in 1937 the golden decade of jazz and the flowering of Williams Avenue would never have happened. It was the cheap power produced by this engineering marvel on the Columbia that attracted Kaiser shipyards and other defense industries during World War II. Had it not been for the lobbying power and the indefatigable perseverance of future Governor Charles Martin and Senator Charles McNary, the Bonneville Dam would not have been built in time for World War II. The grand migration of Black workers from the South and the music they brought with them would not have arrived.

FDR, whose idea for the dam was part of his 1932 candidacy, had put it on the back burner and was postponing the construction in favor of spending more money on Grand Coulee Dam. McNary and Martin, fearing that it would be put on hold indefinitely, raced to Washington in an effort to change FDR’s mind. They were told that the President was too busy to see them because he was getting ready for an extended vacation. They remained in the waiting room with dozens of other people who urgently wanted a last-minute audience with the President. Enter an old friend from Salem, Oregon, now FDR’s personal secretary, Marvin Mcintire. When he came over to greet them, they told him of their dilemma and within minutes he had arranged a meeting with the President. Then Martin went to work. In a flash of brilliant thinking he told the President that he would be following in the footsteps of Thomas Jefferson. “By this act you are sending out a new Lewis and Clark Expedition to rediscover the Pacific Northwest. This part of the country has been held back by lack of power. By this act you are harnessing the Columbia River and giving us an unlimited supply of the cheapest power in the country. And by doing that you will rebuild the Northwest.” The inspired rhetoric worked and FDR gave them the 36 million dollars they needed for the Corps of Engineers to begin immediately. That was September 1933.

Looking forward, the working name of our project – JumpTown – seeks to honor the area’s heritage as a jazz and entertainment district while invoking an experience at the intersection of sports, entertainment and unique Portland culture.