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Everhart Funeral Home
220 E. Main Street
Bungalow-style ~ 1926
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William Adams Building
112-114 S. Molalla Avenue
Vernacular ~ circa 1875-1880s
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Harvey N. Everhart purchased a furniture and undertaking business from W. D. Adams
in 1909 and operated on N. Molalla Avenue for many years. He built the present
funeral home as well as the Chapel at Canby in 1943 and operated the Miller funeral
home in Aurora. He sold the furniture aspect of the business and was joined by Jack
Kent in partnership in 1947, but retired from active business that same year. Everhart
served as mayor of Molalla in the early 1930s, he was a Clackamas County Fair director
for several years, and he was a service board member in Oregon City during World War II. He was a member
of Molalla IOOF lodge in 1927 and was a charter member of Molalla Grange #310.
A rare wood-frame commercial building in Molalla, this vernacular store was built
circa 1875-1880, reportedly by George W. and Sarah Shaver, who purchased the
property in 1867. It is the best-preserved wood-frame commercial building in
Molalla, and one of few (if only) that date before the City's 1913 incorporation.
William Adams operated a cabinet and coffin business here and in 1909 Harvey
Everhart purchased the business and added furniture and a funeral parlor. In 1913,
W. W. Everhart had a real estate office in the building. The upper floor was used as a schoolroom and lore
suggests a speakeasy operated during Prohibition. George Case Plumbing was in the one-story wing from
the 1920s to the 1970s.
Rob
bins
Stre
et
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This Foursquare house is an early and rare example of this style in Molalla.
Hallmarks of this style of architecture are the square plan, the two-and-one-half
story height, a central dormer, and a large front porch with wide stairs. The boxy
shape provides a maximum amount of interior room space. Gas was installed for
room lighting when the house was built. Mahogany woodwork and crystal-glass
doorknobs are featured on the interior. The old building at the back was a former
sewing factory for military garments during World War II; later it was used for boy-scout troop meetings
and it has been used as a summer kitchen. The house was built by carpenter Oliver Willard Robbins for
his brother, Levi Wayne Robbins and Levi's wife, Ione Rivers Robbins. They married in 1899, had four
children, and in the 1920s she was the official buyer for the Robbins Bros. store in Molalla. The home was
affectionately referred to as "the house on the hill."
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J. D. Peterkin and Son
118-122 S. Molalla Avenue
Utilitarian Commercial ~ 1929
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s St
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1936 Buckeroo
1923
1924
1925
1926
1928
1939
1943
Ford dealership comes to Molalla
Eastern and Western Lumber Co. moves into the area
Improved stadium on the northwest corner of Molalla and Main streets hosts the Round-up
rodeo event
Molalla Union High School built; Chevrolet dealership comes to Molalla
Molalla Buckeroo Association forms
Ostrander Railway and Timber Company established on Dickey Prairie
Canby-Molalla Forest (Logging) Road built; Crown Zellerbach buys out Ostrander
1944
1947
1955
1962
1970s
1980s
1993
Major fire destroys several buildings in downtown Molalla
Molalla Theatre opens on Main Street
New City Hall/Fire Station/Library built
Arrowhead Golf Club built
Molalla Buckeroo rodeo moves to new stadium northeast of town
Lumber industry declines
5.7 Earthquake damages 1926 Molalla High School building; the school is later demolished
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aluminum finish.
Brief timeline of town history
1840s-1850s Pioneers settle the Molalla Prairie
1852
Molalla Post Office established at Liberal
1860
A. J. Sawtell starts a teasel farm outside Molalla
1870s
Frank W. McLeran opens Wilhoit Springs Resort
1913
Town Incorporates; first train arrives; first town electricity; first Molalla Pioneer newspaper;
Molalla Telephone Company incorporates; first western rodeo event
1916
First city-sponsored Round-up rodeo
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Berk
ley
Ave
nue
Welding and blacksmithing since 1929, J. D. Peterkin and Son continues to do
repairs on farming and logging equipment as well as heavy equipment of all kind.
The business is comprised of three older buildings and the circa 1920 building on
the corner is covered with the original wood-shiplap siding. In 1947, Peterkin and
Son doubled their workspace with the addition of a new drive-in repair shop alongside the old shop building. This tall central building still sports the original sheet
Stagecoach
Motel
14 18 19
Ave
nue
One of the finest examples of architecture in Molalla, the First Methodist Church was the
third church the Methodists built in the community. The first church was south of town
at the corner of Sawtell and Herman roads and later the congregation met in the old log
schoolhouse at the east end of town. This church was built by local carpenter and builder
Oliver Willard Robbins in the Gothic Revival style and features pointed-arch windows, a
shingled tower and open fretwork designs. No longer used as a
church, the stained glass window panes have been moved to the new Methodist Church
east of town. A small, white cottage that was formerly used as the town library is located next to the church. The library was a cozy building sporting window boxes and the
interior smelled of old books, wood smoke, and oiled wood. Patrons were greeted at the
door by a tinkling bell and by Mrs. Beesie Pemble, the librarian.
Levi Wayne Robbins House
3
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123 Shirley Street
Foursquare Craftsman ~ 1899-1900
Ave
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First Methodist Church
300 E. Main Street
Gothic Revival-Vernacular ~ 1905-1906
Shirl
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treet
Cole St
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This appealing shop was formerly a utilitarian electric store owned by Mr. And Mrs.
Paul E. Jan of Jan Electric Co. In business in Molalla since 1949, they purchased
the building and the business in 1955 from Frank and Hazel Yannessa. The
Yannessa's had also been in the electric business in Molalla for six years before the
Jans took over. The building was built by Vera Wells as an electrical shop in the
1940s. The bracketed cornice and vertical board-and-batten siding, which gives it a
country flair, were added by Gary and Joan Deardorff.
Masterton's Garage was the first brick and structural-clay tile building in Molalla.
The old P.C. Ferman and Co. store building was demolished to make way for the
new garage. W. G. Masterton worked as a blacksmith in a wood-frame building
nearby, starting in 1914. The fireproof building was constructed of clay tile products from the new Molalla Brick and Tile Works northwest of town. Today the
building is intact and original (although one bay is enclosed) and it is the only
Mission-style commercial building in Molalla. The interior warehouse features massive construction
beams. The building was previously used as the Emmert Bros. Freight and Feed Company then the
Foglesong Feed Store before it became Bentley Feed Store.
The City Park, with its old-growth Douglas fir trees, has a long history in Molalla. The park is on land that
was owned for years by the pioneer Robbins family and was deeded to the City in 1925 by Oliver and Mary
Robbins. A few years before, the City had purchased the nearby baseball field and it later became the
Buckeroo rodeo grounds (the old wooden stadium and arena were torn down in the 1970s). The drinking
fountain/birdbath memorial in the park was dedicated in 1940 to "Aunt" Mary Robbins by the Molalla Civic
Club, who maintained the park. Stone for the fountain came from the first pioneer Clackamas County
Courthouse in Oregon City.
Fran
cis
Stre
et
George Gregory was a well-known Molalla citizen, town developer, and
businessman who took over the local Sawtell teasel business in 1899. Born
in Somersetshire, England, in 1862, as a boy he came to New York, where
he learned the skill of preparing teasel plants for use in the woolen
industry. He arrived in Molalla in 1898 and married Flora in 1899. The
English style of architecture is evident in
the brickwork, the high-pitched gable roof, the elaborate chimney
on the facade, decorative stringcourses, and window lintels. The
house retains many outstanding interior features, including spacious rooms, original light fixtures, and a fireplace mantel built
from stone sourced in Los Angeles.
Avenue
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igle
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Long Memorial Park
3 1 Leonard
S. Molalla Avenue
Masterton's Garage
110 S. Molalla Avenue
Mission/Commercial ~ 1925
George and Flora Gregory House
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900 N. Molalla Avenue (Clackamas County)
English Tudor Revival ~ 1927
Swe
Jan Electric Co.
125-147 E. Main Street
Commercial ~ 1944
Oswald "Ossie" Marson moved to Molalla in 1932 and became Molalla's Chevrolet
dealer in 1935. In 1947, he remodeled a 1926 auto garage
into a new building that was described in local newspapers as
"one of the finest auto service buildings in the Willamette
Valley." Marson was well-known and respected by everyone
in town. Aside from operating his Chevrolet business, Ossie
was mayor, Chief of the Fire Department, president of the
City Council, and a member of the Grade School Board. The 1971 monument at
the front of the city fire station across the street is a tribute to Ossie Marson.
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The Molalla Theatre was remodeled to its present appearance in the late 1970s by
Gary and Joan Deardorff. Vestiges of the old theatre can be seen inside today,
including the original stage and the pink-and-black tiled restrooms. The theatre
closed in 1972 due to vandalism, not long after the showing of "The Andromeda
Strain." The former "Quonset-style" theatre was owned and operated by Ernest
Clark, who built the architect-designed building while still operating the New Lyric
Theatre down Main Street.
This Craftsman-inspired Foursquare house is thought to have been built by William
T. Eckerd. The house features a prominent front porch with squared posts that
wraps to the kitchen side wing, and a pyramidal hipped roof with overhanging eaves.
William Eckerd and his son delivered RFD mail for the Molalla post office and their
horses were stabled in a barn (no longer standing) at the rear of the house. Members
of the Eckerd family, including John P. Echerd, lived in the house until the 1950s.
The interior features many period architectural details such as decorative fireplace mantels, classical column posts, ceiling beams, pocket doors, and Victorian-period furnishings and light fixtures.
Chevrolet-Marson's Garage
3
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203 S. Molalla Avenue
Commercial ~ 1947
Chu
rch
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As one of Clackamas County's outstanding houses when built for A. Frank Lowes,
Molalla's best Ranch house was designed by architect Daniel Riggs Huntington of
Oregon City. The house was built with four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a large
living room paneled in Korina wood, and a music room. The basement had a
large lounge and a rumpus room, both with fireplaces, a maid's room, and a study
over the garage. A sunken garden and lily pond were originally in the landscaped
back yard, later turned into a swimming pool, and an outdoor fireplace. Lowes, who owned a major
sawmill in the northwest part of town, was a prominent business and civic leader. He also owned a
tavern in town called Frank's Place (now the Sundowner), which was a popular hang-out during the
Buckeroo rodeo. Lowes had risen from a lumber hand to the top of the lumbering industry. Born in
Detroit, Michigan, he came to Portland in 1926 and worked for the West Oregon Lumber Company.
In 1933, he arrived in Molalla to work for the Molalla Lumber Yard. He purchased his first sawmill
in the early 1940s, and eventually turned A. F. Lowes Lumber Co. into one of the largest sawmills in
the region. He died following a car accident in 1954.
SM
olal
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William T. Echerd House
2
5
E. Main Street
Foursquare Craftsman ~ 1906
City Hall was built to house the city offices as well as the jail, a meeting hall, the
mayor's office, fire trucks, the ambulance, and the library. The design of the concrete building reflected the post-World War II interest in the International style,
evidenced by its geometric simplicity. When built, the Police Chief was Vern
Pitman. The building was constructed by Fred Blomenkamp & Son, local contractors. New quarters for the Molalla Public Library were dedicated within City Hall
in 1970, when Ethel Blatchford became librarian.
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Fenton
The Hoffman House is notable as an intact example of carpenter-vernacular architecture built by Oliver Willard Robbins for himself and his family. The house has
intersecting gables, paired, double-hung windows, and decorative porch brackets.
Today, the house is the Hoffman House Restaurant and it retains the atmosphere
of an early Molalla home. The deck on the side has been added, and one of the
original outbuildings remains at the rear. Duane Robbins, Oliver's son and president of the First National Bank, was the last of the Robbins family to occupy the home. The front room
was briefly used for the first library in Molalla from approximately 1900 to 1906.
A. Frank Lowes House
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710 S. Molalla Avenue
Ranch ~ 1950
Grange
Avenue
Built as a furniture store by J. H. Bowlin, this building originally had a double entry
with two, large plate-glass windows and featured artistic design elements on the
poured and pebbled stucco façade. Today, the façade sports an early 1970s remodel, at which time it became the White Horse Tavern. The original store was built by
the same firm that built the 1926 brick Molalla High School and the Molalla
Telephone Company building — Birkemeir & Saremal of
Milwaukie. Bowlin went out of business in mid-May, 1928, soon after his store
became the first electrified storefront in Molalla. The building has contained
several businesses over the years, including Twentieth Century Grocery, Safeway,
the Molalla Coffee Shop, the Electric Shop, J. J. Dann's Frozen Foods locker plant
(later Christiansen's Frozen Food Locker and Meat Shop), the Crème Freze, The
Cone, Burkholder's Café, Bennett's Place and the OK Tavern.
Molalla Theatre
115 E. Main Street
Remodeled Commercial ~ 1947
City Hall
2
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117 S. Molalla Avenue
Commercial ~ 1955
Lola
Ave
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Hoffman House
2
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523 E. Main Street
Vernacular ~ circa 1900
Center
Avenue
Furniture Store
1Commercial
9 Bowlin
118 E. Main Street
~ 1927