Vanport Slideshow
Pictures from Vanport before and after the 1948 flood
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The view of Vanport from the entrance on Denver Ave. on the east side of town.
Oregon Historical Society
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Vanport was built in order to provide housing for the influx of workers coming to the Kaiser Shipyards, which were able to build a ship in an average of 40.2 days during WWII. Kaiser employed nearly 100,000 workers in the Portland area during the war.
Oregon Historical Society
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The frames of some early Vanport housing units before the first occupants arrived in December 1942.
Oregon Historical Society
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Aerial view of the west side of Vanport.
Oregon Historical Society
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Buses shuttled Vanport residents to the Kaiser Shipyards.
Oregon Historical Society
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Two girls share milk and cookies at the Child Service Center on Swan Island, which provided daycare for Vanport residents.
Oregon Historical Society
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A Vanport resident in her kitchen.
Oregon Historical Society
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Residents file through the grocery store in the middle of town on its opening day.
Oregon Historical Society
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Vanport residents host a parade along Victory Boulevard in the middle of town.
Portland State University Archives
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Vanport was the home of the Vanport Extension Center, the precursor to Portland State University. Many veterans attended the school after WWII on the GI Bill.
Portland State University Archives
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The Administration Building was located at the center of Vanport. A shopping center, post office, hospital, library, police and fire station, and several schools were also nearby.
Oregon Historical Society
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Meat cases at one of the Vanport markets.
Oregon Historical Society
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Denver Ave. in Vanport in the early days of the city.
Oregon Historical Society
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An aerial view of the breach in the railroad berm that caused the Vanport flood. The berm was engineered to support railroad tracks, not to hold back large amounts of water like a dike or a levy would. Smith Lake is to the west (left) of the breach. Vancouver, WA and Mt. St. Helens are visible to the north.
Oregon Historical Society
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Residents leave Vanport as the sirens warn of the coming flood.
Oregon Historical Society
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Volunteers man a ropeline to help survivors out of the floodwaters.
Oregon Historical Society
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Houses pile up along Denver Ave carried by the waters of the Vanport flood.
Oregon Historical Society
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A house in Vanport after the flood.
Portland State University Archives
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Residents evacuating Vanport.
Oregon Historical Society
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A California employer sent this telegram to check with Toshi Kuge of the Portland Japaese American Citizens League to see if there had been any sign of the wife of one of his employees.
Portland State University Archives
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The aftermath of the flood.
City of Portland Archives A2001-083, 1948
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Young survivors of the Vanport flood at a Red Cross Refugee Center on Swan Island. 1300 former residents of Vanport were temporarily housed at the center.
Oregon Historical Society
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Survivors housed in a friend's garage two days after the Vanport flood.
Oregon Historical Society
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Telegram from U.S. Senator Wayne Morse to Toshi Kuge, President of the Portland chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League, informing Kuge that special congressional funds for flood survivors beyond money to rebuild dikes and furnish housing was unlikely.
Portland State University Archives
