These listed properties, which hold significance within the social, commercial, and religious history of Portland’s African American community include:

Billy Webb Elks Lodge

A community gathering space and host to African American social, political, educational, and civil rights groups since 1926.

Mt. Olivet Baptist Church

The oldest extant worship space in Northeast Portland associated with one of Portland’s early Black congregations.

The Golden West Hotel

A hub for early twentieth-century Black business and the only major hotel in Portland to welcome African American guests between 1906 and 1930.

Dean’s Beauty Salon and Barber Shop

The oldest continuously operating Black-owned barber shop and salon in Portland.

ARG joins a dedicated team of local historians, sub-consultants, community members, and city staff committed to recognizing sites of significance to the African American community. Today, there are more than 2,000 resources in Oregon that are listed in the National Register of Historic Places, including districts containing hundreds of distinct properties. Of that number, only eleven individual places (including the four properties listed above) are identified as significant for their association with Black history in Oregon.

Integral to this initiative, ARG partnered with the City of Portland in 2020 to recognize significant properties associated with the African American community in Portland through the development of the “African American Resources in Portland, Oregon, from 1851 to 1973” Multiple Property Documentation (MPD). All four of the properties nominated for listing in the National Register were identified for their significance to the local community as part of a larger inventory of properties under the African American Resources MPD. You can read more about ARG’s previous work on the African American Resources MPD here.

Photos courtesy of Architectural Resources Group