Public Agencies and the Development of Portland’s East Side

As a large landowner and holder of mineral rights in Ventura County, near Los Angeles, Ralph B. Lloyd (1875–1953) was the linchpin in the development of the gigantic Ventura Avenue oil field. Lloyd later invested millions of dollars of his royalty income in an undeveloped portion of Portland’s East Side known as Holladay’s Addition. When the Great Depression derailed initial plans for this property, Lloyd turned to federal and state agencies to sustain his commercial real estate business. This lecture explores the role that public capital played in materializing the area west of Holladay Park as a nascent corporate office park, which literally prepared the ground for the Lloyd Center, a regional shopping center that opened in 1960, seven years after Lloyd’s death.

Parkview Apartments, NE  16th & Irving St., 

Image courtesy of Ron Savitt

Presenter Michael R. Adamson is a Director with FTI Consulting, a global business advisory firm. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University and a Doctorate in History from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He is the author of numerous scholarly articles and a book, A Better Way to Build: A History of the Pankow Companies (Purdue University Press, 2013). He is writing a book that explores the nexus of oil and urbanization on the Pacific Coast.

Sponsored by: WILLCO

This lecture program is held at the Architectural Heritage Center - 701 SE Grand Avenue

Parking is on-street (free on Saturdays) or in the parking lot on the west side of Grand Avenue between SE Yamhill and Belmont Streets - just to the north of the Grand Marketplace. Do not use the lot where Dutch Bros. Coffee is located. Thank you to Bolliger and Sons Insurance for sharing their lot with us for our evening and Saturday education programs.