National Register of Historic Places

Recently Listed Oregon Properties in the National Register of Historic Places

• Hughes Flying Boat (H-4 Hercules) in McMinnville, relisted in November 2024. The Hughes Flying Boat (H-4 Hercules), often referred to as the “Spruce Goose”, is nationally significant for its association with Howard R. Hughes, Jr., one of the most influential figures in American aviation history, and for the seaplane’s service as a research and testing platform for innovative mechanically engineered systems that became standard in large aircraft after the Second World War. As a one-of-a-kind prototype, the Hughes Flying Boat flew only one time, on November 2, 1947. From 1947 until 1953, the aircraft served as a testbed for a variety of aviation innovations, including the application of Duramold wood composite in large aircraft construction, redundant fire suppression and flight control systems. The Hughes Flying Boat is also the largest seaplane, largest wooden aircraft, and largest propeller-driven plane ever built.
   
  After its flight, the Hughes Flying Boat was housed in Long Beach, California, where it remained until 1992. The plane was then disassembled and moved to McMinnville. In 1980, the plane was listed in the National Register, but because it was moved to Oregon without prior NPS approval, it was automatically delisted. In 2001, the aircraft was reassembled and today it is the centerpiece of the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum.
  
  The Hughes Flying Boat (H-4 Hercules) is the only individually listed aircraft in Oregon.
  View the nomination

• Hannah and Eliza Gorman House in Benton County, additional documentation accepted in September 2024. The Hannah and Eliza Gorman House was initially listed in the National Register in 2015 under the Settlement-era Dwellings, Barns and Farm Groups of the Willamette Valley, Oregon, 1841-circa 1865 Multiple Property Document (MPD) in recognition of its association with formerly enslaved African Americans Hannah and Eliza Gorman, a mother and daughter who crossed the Oregon Trail in 1844. Once emancipated, the Gormans purchased this site and built their house during a period in which Oregon’s exclusion laws prohibited African Americans from owning property. In 2024, the National Park Service accepted an amendment to the original nomination recognizing this property’s potential to yield significant archaeological information about the lives of Oregon’s early Black pioneer residents—women in particular—during the settlement period and the era of exclusion laws. View the nomination and amendment.
  
  
• Black Historic Resources in Oregon, 1788-2002, Multiple Property Document (MPD), listed in September 2024. An MPD is a National Register cover document that provides a common context and targeted registration requirements for a group of related significant properties. This document facilitates the future nomination of those properties by providing a general historic context (which can jumpstart individual nominations’ context statements) and by defining the standards and requirements that those properties must meet to be eligible for listing in the National Register. This MPD presents an overview of the history of African Americans in Oregon through six different thematic contexts and establishes a set of registration requirements to guide the nomination of Oregon’s significant African American historic resources to the National Register. One property, the Hannah and Eliza Gorman House, has been listed in the National Register under the auspices of this MPD as of late 2024. View the MPD.
  

• J.L. Elam Bank in Milton-Freewater, Umatilla County, listed in August 2024. The J.L. Elam Bank was constructed in 1906 to house the Freewater Branch of the Walla Walla-based Elam Bank; the building received a major addition in 1908 under its second owner, C.T. Godwin, and it was remodeled in 1920 by a later owner, the Bank of Freewater. Today, the one-story building has painted, smooth concrete block walls and retains many character-defining features of the Classical Revival style, including a flat roof with decorative balustrade on the parapet, flat arch lintels above windows and doors, symmetrical entrance with columns, smooth exterior walls, and an entablature. It is one of the most notable examples of the Classical Revival commercial style in Milton-Freewater, and it reflects the evolution of the Classical Revival style in rural communities. The J.L. Elam Bank is of local significance under National Register Criterion C in the area of Architecture. View the full nomination.
  
  
• Hotel Alma in Portland, Multnomah County listed in May 2024. Hotel Alma was first listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2009 under the Multiple Property Document "Historic Resources in Downtown Portland, Oregon, 1906-1914". At that time, the Alma was determined to be significant under National Register Criterion A in the areas of Community Planning and Development, and Commerce. The amended nomination adds additional local significance for the property under National Register Criterion A for LGBTQ+ history as the most enduring and most representative building within the district of downtown Portland known sometimes as the gay triangle. Between 1969 and 1985 the building, then known as the Majestic Hotel, was home to a variety of uses by and for the LGBTQ+ community. In addition to continuing to serve as a hotel, the building was also home to a men’s bathhouse, bars and nightclubs, and providers of gay men’s health services. View the full nomination.
  
  
• Normandale Field in Portland, Multnomah County listed in May 2024 - Normandale Field, renamed Erv Lind Field in 1965, is a softball diamond located at the southeast corner of Normandale Park in northeast Portland. The softball field was first constructed in 1948 and served as home field for the national champion women’s softball team, the Erv Lind Florists, from 1948 to 1964. The field is of statewide significance under National Register Criterion A for its association with women’s history as well as entertainment and recreation. Normandale Field has been host to world championship softball tournaments, but it has also served as a municipal field, giving local women and girls the opportunity to play softball on the same field as a national champion. In addition, Normandale Field is locally significant under National Register Criterion A as one of the few known early, important, and long-lasting gathering spaces associated with Portland’s LGBTQ+ community. To people who identify as LGBTQ+ and that lived in Portland between the late 1940s and the mid-1960s, women’s softball games at Normandale Field served as a place to socialize with other queer women from the area. View the full nomination.
  
  
• Malmgren Garage in Talent, Jackson County listed in May 2024 - The Malmgren Garage was constructed in 1924 for Theodore and Frederika Malmgren. Theodore Malmgren was a southern Oregon physician and one of the first doctors in southern Oregon to purchase an automobile so he could provide patient care throughout rural Jackson County. The property is locally significant for its association with the commercial development of Talent and the community’s expanded economy in the years after World War One as the result of the development of the Pacific Highway and increased reliance on private automobiles that replaced train travel. The Malmgren Garage reflects the simple utilitarian garage building designs developed to respond to the shift toward automobile transportation that occurred in the early 20th century. Restored and rehabilitated following damage resulting from the Almeda Fire in 2020, the Malmgren Garage retains the original material and exterior finish of its characteristic concrete walls, its auto-related deep setback from the public right of way, and the false front typical of the modest commercial designs of Talent’s downtown. View the full nomination.
  
  
• Dallas Downtown Historic District in Polk County listed in May 2024 because of its local significance for its association with broad patterns of history and its representation of the economic development of the city of Dallas. Near the center of the historic district is the Polk County Courthouse (completed in 1900), a building that exemplifies an era when agriculture and timber led to Dallas’ unprecedented economic vitality. As a collection, the buildings in the district reflect the evolution of commerce in Dallas’ downtown core from some of the earliest permanent construction in the 19th century through the arrival of modernism in the mid-20th century. The Dallas Downtown Historic District contains 43 total resources: 33 contributing, 8 noncontributing, and 2 previously listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The period of significance for the district is 1870 – 1955. View the full nomination.
  
  
• Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Albany, Linn County, listed in May 2024 - The Cumberland Presbyterian Church was constructed in 1892 and enlarged in 1917 by and for the congregation of Mt. Pleasant Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The property is locally significant under National Register Criterion C as an excellent example of a Queen Anne style church. Queen Anne architectural design was not commonly used in churches. Cumberland Presbyterian is extensively decorated with shingles, ornate mouldings, frieze boards, sunbursts, rosettes, and colored glass windows. After a lengthy community effort, in 2021 the church was moved three blocks east of its original location. Before, during and after the move, extreme care was taken to preserve the structure and its character defining architectural features. The building is now operated as the non-profit Cumberland Community Event Center. View the full nomination.