Oregon City is packed full of history.  The first city of Oregon features two fine museums – Oregon Trail Museum and the Museum of the Oregon Territory – besides being home to the houses of two pioneers of the Hudson’s Bay Company, John McLoughlin and Forbes Barclay.  Beyond that, the dramatic power of the Willamette is on display from roadside vista points off Oregon Highway 99E and Interstate 205.  While the views are dramatic enough, that will change in the near future as the plans of the Grand Ronde Tribe come to fruition as the former industrial area reinvents itself to take advantage of the sheer magnificence of Willamette Falls.  Two other nearby sights are not as well known to those outside of Oregon City – Singer Falls and the McLoughlin Promenade.

WILLIAM SINGER

William Singer worked in the flour mill at Willamette Falls owned by John McLoughlin during the late 1840’s.  He must have been somewhat successful because in the early 1880’s, he was able to have a three-story flour mill of his own erected on the edge of the bluff sitting above the lower and original area of Oregon City where Singer Creek used to flow freely over the bluff on its way to a confluence with the Willamette.  The mill was not successful and burnt down around 1897 “mysteriously”.  In 1901, Singer died lying further uphill in the Mountain View Cemetery with many other Oregon City pioneers.

SINGER FALLS

The creek used to flow freely over the 100-foot-high bluff beginning a couple miles away to the south.  There used to be a set of wooden stairs going from the lower Oregon City area to the bluff above.  In 1936, a one-year Works Progress Administration – WPA – project completed the Singer Creek Falls and Steps.

The falls drops from the bluff above in five steps – four ten-foot drops and one twelve-foot drop.  The trail and steps up the right side of the falls from the lower town to the bluff above.  Above on the bluff, the trail comes out going under the Singer Hill Road emerging at the present site of the McLoughlin House on the east side.  On the west side is the present Oregon City Hall.  From here, the McLoughlin Promenade takes off winding along the edge of the bluff above the old lower town.

Neither the Singer Falls nor the McLoughlin Promenade are very well known outside of Oregon City, true hidden gems.  Walk the steps and watch the waters dance over the concrete and locally quarried stone drops of the falls.  Most of the time, you will have the site to yourself.  The falls light up at night.

MCLOUGHLIN PROMENADE

Many people do visit the McLoughlin House above (probably even more visit the City Hall).  A short walk under the road tunnel brings them to a magical oasis hidden in the woods of the bluff amidst the bustle of present-day Oregon City.  While it may not be Oregon’s number one city anymore, Oregon City still boasts over 39,000 citizens placing it as Oregon’s 17^th largest city as of 2023.

Walking the WPA trail and steps down, one comes out at the base of the Oregon City Elevator – another story onto itself – where a tunnel takes the walker underneath the train tracks of the Union Pacific emerging onto 7^th Street of the lower city.

EARLY ON

McLoughlin’s Promenade winds from the Oregon City Hall along the bluff above the lower city west to the Museum of the Oregon Territory.  The area – 7.8 acres – originally set aside by John McLoughlin in 1851 as a park for local residents.  The linear park encompasses the rim of lava cliffs aging from 2 to 15 million years.  In the area of Oregon City, the Willamette River runs through a narrow canyon carved out of the lava flows by the river and huge Ice Age Missoula floods.  More modern floods of the river occasionally made life difficult for those living and working in Oregon City.  1861 was a particularly bad year, but there were others, as well.

As the town grew from the base of the waterfalls, especially as Oregon City became swallowed up by industrial development through the 19^th and early 20^th centuries.  Flour and woolen mills made way for a huge paper mill.  Workers and townsfolk moved above the bluff onto a large plateau sitting above.  Today, this area is encompassed in the McLoughlin District of the city.  Walking through the neighborhoods takes you past many historic house and buildings beyond the obvious house of the former doctor on the edge of the bluff. The home sits across 7^th Street from the City Hall at the top of Singer Hill Road.  The famous house, itself, used to be located low down close to Willamette Falls.  It moved up here to its present location only in 1910 with the expansion of the paper mill.

DEVELOPMENT

And the McLoughlin Promenade, appropriately, begins from the historic house, though the path is not marked here.  The official sign you encounter after crossing under Singer Hill Road through a pedestrian tunnel. This also brings you to the top of Singer Creek Falls.  Old wooden staircases used to be used by locals moving from the upper to lower parts of the city.  Those were replaced in 1936 by the WPA project which also created the Singer Falls.  As a part of the same project was the creation of the Promenade taking place between 1936-1939.

Both the Promenade and Singer Falls gained their designs from City Engineer John L. Franzen.  The Promenade is a ten-foot-wide path which overlooks the lower city over the course of a about a half mile.  Rubble stone posts on the cliffside rising out of a concrete base hold up 15-inch concrete bars made to look like a wooden split rail fence.  Several historic homes sit adjacent to the small linear park separating the houses from the Promenade.  You have wonderful views over the lower city. And the ongoing reduction of industrial development. The Grand Ronde Tribe slowly works at re-developing the site below into a post-industrial future.

ELEVATOR STREET

Walking on the McLoughlin Promenade from the top of Singer Falls, you come to the Oregon City Municipal Elevator.  Atop and inside the spaceship-like observatory of the elevator are photographs of old and new.  The elevator, dedicated in 1955, replaced an earlier elevator dating to 1915.  The earlier elevator originally ran on waterpower taking three minutes for the ride.  When the elevator worked, the local water pressure dipped in response.  That problem became easier with a transition to electricity. Now, it only took 30 seconds – but aging problems eventually led to the newer elevator.

The 130-foot drop takes 15 seconds.  At the bottom, the trail down from Singer Falls connects and a 35-foot pedestrian tunnel takes people underneath the Union Pacific train tracks to the lower city.  The lift is known as Elevator Street, the only vertical street existing in North America.  It is the only outdoor municipal elevator in the US.  Lying at the end of the lower city’s 7^th Street, from the elevator observatory you have a direct line of sight to the 1922 arched bridge over the Willamette linking Oregon City to West Linn.  The arch design is one of the first such bridges built during the period of Conde McCullough’s time as chief bridge engineer for the State Highway Department.

ONWARD

At the other end of the Promenade, the path drops down to the Museum of the Oregon Territory.  There are many interesting exhibits inside relating to the early history of Oregon, Oregon City and Clackamas County.  It is also possible to continue the walk down along the busy McLoughlin Boulevard – Oregon Highway 99E, around the backside of an electrical substation and up into Old Canemah Park.  From there, you could even walk down 3^rd Street in the old pioneer neighborhood of Canemah jogging to the left at the first intersection onto Ganong Street.  Walk up hill as the street proceeds as 4^th Street.  At the end of 4^th, there is a parking lot where you can continue on paths through the Metro Canemah Bluff Nature Park.

CONTROVERSY

One last note about the Promenade.  At the conclusion of the Cayuse War, five Cayuse surrendered themselves and were brought here to Oregon City to stand trial for the murders at the Whitman mission at Waiilatpu in the Walla Walla valley.   Found guilty, they were hanged and buried in unmarked graves thought to be near Abernathy Creek on the east side town.  A present-day search is ongoing to rediscover the bodies.  The Umatilla Reservation tribal leaders – the Cayuse tribe is part of this reservation – hope to build a monument to the Cayuse Five.  The site chosen was on the Promenade.  The Grand Ronde tribe has objected to the monument which possibly sits atop burial grounds for their tribes’ ancestors.  A result of the intertribal disagreement has been delays with the Willamette Falls renewal project below.