A Brief History
It may not look like it, but the Pearl District is a neighborhood. The Pearl District Neighborhood Association was founded in 1991 as a result. The neighborhood encompasses the North Park Blocks, the 13th Avenue Historic District, the city's Main Post Office, and the Hoyt Street Rail Yards, a 40-acre downtown land parcel still largely undeveloped.
The area was platted as part of Couch's Addition in 1869, and the area around North Park Blocks was developed primarily with one and two-story houses. The North Park Blocks contained the first park block dedicated to exclusive use by women and children, and later the first supervised children's playground. Around the turn of the century, expansion of the rail yards from the north halted the growth of park blocks and housing, leading to the neighborhood's gradual conversion to commercial and industrial uses. By 1910, the multi-story warehouses and commercial buildings with characterize the Pearl District today had become predominant.
Pioneering developers rediscovered the area in the 1980's beginning the conversion of many of the old buildings to residential and multiple uses.
The term "Pearl District" caught on as a way to describe a neighborhood of rough old buildings each concealing "pearls" in the form of artists' studios and art galleries.
The Work We Do
The neighborhood association's most active committees are Planning, Transportation and Design Review, and Livability.
The Planning committee takes an active role in helping influence the course of new development, as well as preserving the Pearl District's distinctive "urban warehouse" character.
The Livability Committee deals with good neighbor agreements for new restaurants as well as other issues such as graffiti removal.
There is also the Neighborhood Emergency Team, or NET. The Pearl's large numbers of un-reinforced masonry buildings present a special seismic instability hazard. The NET training is to help save lives, preserve property, and speed recovery throughout the community should a severe earthquake occur.
Email Us
Joan Pendergast (Board President)jpenderx@mac.com
JT Tarantino (Communications)
johntarantino1@gmail.com
