The infamous post-modern Portland Building was dedicated on Saturday, October 2, 1982 (The Sunday Oregonian, 3 October 1982).

With most of the fanfare that traditionally accompanies such civic celebrations – only the rain was missing – Portland residents and officials gathered on Southwest Fifth Avenue Saturday to dedicate their colorful new office building.

The Portland Building was declared officially open by Mayor Frank Ivancie, who called the $24.5 million, 15-story structure “a bright star on our beautiful city’s skyline.”

Entertainment at the dedication was provided by the Grant High School Royal Blues and the Portland Civic Band, who offered the debut performance of “Portlandia,” a Steven Smith composition written as a tribute to the new building.*

As the crowd sang “God Bless America” architect Michael Graves and the mayor released a cluster of cream-colored weather balloons carrying a ribbon-bedecked wreath to commemorate the ceremony (a gaudy tribute which Portland architect Pietro Belluschi, who once described the building as an “oversized beribboned Christmas package,” might have found appropriate).

The Raymond Kaskey designed Portlandia statue was installed in 1985.

Credit: Portland Building 1982 photo by Steve Morgan. Used here under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

*I can find no other reference to Steven Smith’s composition Portlandia anywhere on the internet or The Oregonian archives. Interestingly another musician, Marc C. Miller, composed another song called Portlandia, which was officially declared the Portland city song in 1989.

Construction work began on the St. Johns Bridge on Tuesday, September 3, 1929 (The Sunday Oregonian, 1 September 1929).

With preliminary phases practically complete, actual construction of the new St. Johns suspension bridge will get under way this week. Excavation for the piers at the east end of the bridge will start Tuesday. . .

Workmen for the Gilpin Construction company, which has the contract for the substructure of the bridge, have been assembling equipment for the start of operations on the east bank of the river. J. F. Gilpin, president of the firm, will supervise the work. Between 25 and 50 men will be employed now and possibly another 50 as the work progresses. The Pacific Bridge company, which has the subcontract for the main piers, will also start work in a few days.

Beginning a month before the stock market crash of October, 1929, the bridge construction provided employment for scores of local residents through the start of the Great Depression.

The St. Johns Bridge was officially dedicated on June 13, 1931 during the Rose Festival. When it opened it was the longest suspension bridge west of Detroit. One of it piers, at a height of 163 feet, was the tallest reinforced concrete pier in the world. The 205′ underclearance above navigable water at the central span was a record as well.