Or just read all the three interviews as one long document.

Roger Hancock

and the The Little Red House 

Contrary to lore, it was never a pony express way station, but the cottage in Bridlemile has a long, rich history

By Audrey Metcalfe

As published in the “SW Community Connection”, September 1997

(Story courtesy of the Southwest Community Connection and Pamplin Media Group)

The little red house on the corner of SW Shattuck Road and Hamilton Street in Bridlemile endures amidst local curiosity and rumor.

Mention the house to almost anyone living in the area and you’ll likely hear the common legend repeated with relish – “Did you know the place was once a station for pony express riders?”

I’d like to dispel the rumor,” scoffs 41-year old Roger Hancock, owner of the house and the third generation of his family to live there.

Hancock, dressed in a plaid flannel shirt, high-top leather work boots, jeans and a tattered jacket, is a stocky, optimistic man, easy to talk with, especially about his passions.

And one of his passions is family history.

He points out that historical records show the one-time farmhouse was built sometime before 1860 by Andrew Tigard, an immigrant from Arkansas. Andrew arrived in Oregon with his brother Wilson, who founded the town bearing the family name.

The area, now in the Bridlemile neighborhood, was called Fairvale in those times, Hancock adds. Shattuck Road, then named Cooper Road, ran by the house as it does today. Hess Road, SW Hamilton Street today, came from Scholls Ferry Road and stopped at Cooper Road.

“In those days, the house was out-of-the-way. It wasn’t on a route to anywhere,” Hancock says by way of offering evidence against the pony express story.

Hancock is the great-grandson of two Fairvale families who immigrated to Oregon in the later part of the 1800’s.

He chuckles at the fate that brought the ancestral home of his maternal great-grandparents, Edward and Esther Rogers, into his possession.

“I hadn’t intended to buy it. I was mowing the lawn at grandfather’s house next door when I saw a Realtor pounding a sign into the lawn.” He gets into the story by lightly pounding one hand into the palm of the other.

But when Hancock, a self-proclaimed packrat, learned the old homestead might be demolished, he stepped in and bought it. 

So in 1981, the house returned to the Rogers family, after 40 years of offering shelter to strangers.

Hancock, who has never married, treasures the old place partly because he can’t stand to see anything lost but also because his life is tied to the land by memories passed on to him by his grandfather, Arthur Rogers.

The house is a curiosity in Bridlemile because long periods of time pass without any apparent activity there.

Hancock, somewhat apologetically, says he should do something about the untrimmed rhododendrons, chipped house paint and years of moss collecting on the roof. Then he gets side tracked talking about the time he spends reconditioning steam engines – his first love. A vintage 1903 steam-engine driven farm tractor is stuffed in a garage beside the house. Another 1896 tractor resides in the rose garden out back.

If Hancock hasn’t maintained the house in pristine condition, he has preserved its history.

Hancock, an archivist of hundreds of old family photos, carefully withdraws an old black and white photo of the house from the safety of an envelope.

Glancing from the photo, taken around the turn of the century, to the house itself, the viewer has trouble believing that nearly 100 years has intervened.

The trees are larger, a TV antenna adorns the roof and the once white house is now red.

Inside, plumbing and appliances are modernized, but the hand-hewn logs of the original floor betray the age and workmanship of pioneer skill.

“I remember sitting beside my grandfather and listening to him tell stories. Sometimes he told them a hundred times over. It was hard not to remember them,” says Hancock, who clearly enjoys retelling the stories.

Arthur Rogers was 70 years old when Hancock was born. But the patriarch lived for another 30 years, painting a verbal portrait of the family for Hancock to remember – and pass on.

Hancock’s maternal great-grandparents, Edward and Esther Rogers, came from Penzance in Cornwall, England. The family arrived in Oregon in 1875 and purchased the farmhouse and 180 acres of Andrew Tigard’s farm.

They raised Arthur and his 11 siblings on the farm. 

At one time, 18 people lived in the little two-room house, explains Hancock, who confesses he is still astonished by the fact.

The couple also raised herds of sheep and acres of apple, pear and cherry trees and grains. Several pear trees still grow near the side of the house.

One of two coastal pine seedlings planted by Esther Rogers continues to grow in the front yard.

The seedling was a souvenir of a rare family vacation at the Coast. Passersby still admire the one remaining pine in the front yard. The pine is now designated a Heritage Tree by the City.

In 1891, Edward Rogers donated one third of an acre of his land to the county to build the Fairvale School. The two-room school house, located just south of the farmhouse and across Cooper Road, served the community until 1928.

Another contribution to the community came from Joe Rogers, one of Arthur’s brothers. Joe lost an arm in a saw mill accident. He returned to Fairvale and launched the Fairvale Grocery Co., a general store that stood just across the street from the Rogers farmhouse. Eventually, Joe moved the store to the corner of the Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway and Shattuck Road where the store remained open until about 1950. He also started selling gasoline, which was delivered in wooden wagons – another fact that astonishes Hancock. Today, Albertson’s is on the Fairvale Store site.

In 1922, Arthur married Barbara Streiff, a milliner and daughter of his Swiss neighbors Albrecht and Barbara Wartenweiler Streiff. The Streiffs owned a place just to the north of the Rogers place on Cooper Road.

The three-story Streiff farmhouse remains standing and in poor condition although not forgotten by Roger Hancock, who owns it.

Eventually Arthur and Barbara moved into a place of their own, next door to the Rogers homestead. Today, Hancock owns their small, white house too.

 Arthur and his wife had four daughters. The second oldest, Arlene, is Hancock’s mother, who still lives in Bridlemile.

When the Depression hit, the 180-acre farm was sold off in pieces to pay debts, Hancock says with a tinge of bitterness.

When Roger Hancock is not working as a machinist in Northwest Portland, he criss-crosses Oregon searching for bargains in model train engines and old farm equipment.

It’s the steel hardened stuff of the history Hancock likes to share – far from flimsy fantasies about pony express stations on roads that lead nowhere.

Ruth Powell and Jane Tweeddale

Photo by Ginger Danzer

Mrs. Ruth Powell was a land owner, resident and developer of land. Jane Tweeddale owns a home on Jerald Way.

In 2001 Mrs. Powell spoke at the Bridlemile Neighborhood Association Meeting at the request of Barbara Paetzhold, the neighborhood historian. In an effort to retrieve that information after Barbara Paetzhold's death, Bev Shaw contacted Jane Tweeddale and arranged this visit at the Tweeddale home. Both Mrs. Powell and Jane Tweeddale enjoyed the neighborhood and have many wonderful memories of their first years in the area.

Mrs. Powell explained that in 1947 her husband, Jack, was looking for property in Portland with enough acreage to build a home and garden. Dr. Powell, a native of Kansas, was a dentist, whose office was on SE 37th and Hawthorne. Ruth Morrison, a native Portlander, was his patient, and in 1939, his wife. The Powells looked and looked for property. A friend told Dr. Powell about some land that was for sale by the Art Museum and that he was sure that Jack would like. Jack was busy and told Ruth to go with the friend to look at it. She immediately loved the land, open with nice stands of trees and a wonderful western vista to the valley. She encouraged her husband to look at the land, and it was soon theirs. They initially purchased about 35 acres and continued to buy contiguous parcels of land. Most of the property was in Multnomah County at the time except for a pie shaped piece which was in the city of Portland and on which the Belluschi house was built.

The Powell's first home, built by someone in the Belluschi firm, was in the city part of the property because during the war they could not build in the county. It was at 3500 SW Bridlemile Lane on the corner of Jerald Way.

The Powells lived in this house for five years. Then they built a second home at 3600 SW Bridlemile Lane and lived there for three years. Their mailboxes were on Dosch Road, which is also where children caught the school bus. Mrs. Powell spoke of a well that was at a corner of the property that they used to gravity feed water to their large Victory Garden. They sold potatoes and cabbage to Corno's Vegetable Market.

During the war years there were significant barriers to building. Mrs. Powell remembers that Robert Strahorn came to their door one day and asked if he could build homes on their lots. The Powells saw his work and knew that he built good homes. They became associated with Robert Strahorn. The Powells, and Strahorn combined their names to form a company named Strell and arranged to buy property the current Brookford property south of Hamilton from Dr. Ray. The was to build 110 houses, but Strahorn built 100 houses and everything was fine. The First National Bank wanted their money and Powells didn't have it. The Bridlemile property was mortgaged to the bank. Strahorn and his lawyer, a Mr. Simmons evidently had bought the Wilcox property instead of paying the bank or notifying

The Powells planned to develop the property and needed a name for it. One night, before they moved to the area, Ruth Powell was brushing her teeth and thinking about the land and hoping to raise horses on it. She thought, "Bridlemile, that is it." The street, Jerald Way is named for the Powell's son.

Mrs. Powell talked about a sawmill in the area of their Bridlemile property and also spoke fondly of the stand of trees on the land.

Some of the first families to buy property from the Powells were: Ruth and Bill Hagenstein, Phyllis and Howard Fishell, Natalie and Jerry Weigel, Jean and Harry Ragsdale, and Alan and Jane Tweeddale.

In the Archives there is an undated copy of a brochure announcing the development of Bridlemile. The Architectural Design Committee is: Dr. John H. Powell, Lyle Nosler, realtor and John J. Whelan, Architect. Dr. John and Sylvia Brenwood lived at the corner of Dosch and Bridlemile Lane. He was a pediatrician.

Tom and Veneta Riley built their house, and Tom wrote articles about his efforts and progress for Sunset Magazine. He worked for Sunset writing "how to do it" articles. He was an expert at building things, including small items for the house.

As a result of the problems with Strahorn the Powell's became owners of the Wilcox Estate. Strahorn had purchased it from the Holy Cross Fathers in 1955 when they closed Columbia Prep. Mrs. Powell chuckled as she said it seemed funny to turn the carriage house into a home after it had been a Catholic Chapel during the Prep years. She remembered the bell in the tower of the carriage house. The Powells built homes in Wilcox and lived in a home next door to the carriage house. She said those were hard years to stay afloat managing the Wilcox development. She was astounded by the expense of putting in curbs. She had no idea that they went so deep and used so much cement. During this time Mrs. Powell became a real estate agent and was actively involved in the development of Wilcox.

Jane and Allen Tweeddale bought a lot from the Powell's in 1949 and built a beautiful home on SW Jerald Way. Jane shared her pictures of the area at the time their home was being built. Some of them are in the BNA History files. Jane tells how the line between the city and the county went right through their home. For some time they could be befuddled by rules of two jurisdictions.

Both women looked at photographs of the late 40's and early 50's and reminisced. They had memorable parties in the neighborhood.

Jane Tweeddale continues to live on Jerald Way. Mrs. Ruth Powell currently lives in the Wilcox development in Bridlemile.

June 2007 Congratulations to Ruth Morrison Powell on her 100th birthday! The Bridlemile Neighborhood sends best wishes and thanks to Ruth on this very special occasion. Ruth named our area Bridlemile in 1947. Thank you Ruth.

John and Nancy Haleston

Photo by Ginger Danzer

As young twenty-five year olds, John and Nancy Haleston bought their Bridlemile lot and began building their home in 1954. They bought the property on 3805 SW Jerald Way from the realtor, Lyle Nosler who was developing the property with Dr. John H. Powell, the owner, and John J. Whelan, architect. John has an original of the brochure promoting the area that had been recently named Bridlemile. Their home and several others in the area were built by Louie Cotsifas and his son George. The land was in Multnomah County and they bought their water from Portland. John does not think the area was well plotted. Some of the lots are very deep and because of the grade, frequently resulted in huge front yards with no privacy at the expense of disproportionately small back yards.

The flow of the water down the hill and onto the streets was not considered carefully enough and there was very little attempt to control the water except for the deep ditches beside the road. Many of these have been filled over time forcing the water back onto the streets and onto someone else's property. Neighbors who wonder why the streets are so poorly maintained do not realize that the development was not originally in the city of Portland and the streets only had to meet the county standards. Since those standards did not meet the City of Portland requirements when the area was annexed, the streets can only be maintained (such as holes etc.) and never will be re-paved at the city's expense. At one time, John is not sure when, there was a move to organize a Local Improvement District (LID) to improve the streets and perhaps add curbs but nothing came of it. John asserts that it would have been a huge and expensive task as many of the houses were set above or below the grade of the street and many have usurped part of the street easement into their yards.

John and Nancy have thoroughly enjoyed their Bridlemile home. They raised a daughter and two sons there and have great memories of a wonderful neighborhood filled with children and young families who enjoyed each other's company. Horses occasionally were ridden in the neighborhood and Haleston's have pictures of their daughter riding her horse right up to their house. Another horse rider was the daughter of Bridlemile residents Ted and Phyllis White. The girls would tether their animals down by the ravine at the eastern edge of what is now Hamilton Park.

The Bridlemile development extended from Dosch Road to the west which is now 41st Street. At the southern end of 41st the paved road came to an end. Before 41st joined the road alongside the park there was about 100 feet unpaved....barely OK for a drive through in dry weather. During the rainy season, it was impassable. Halestons remember thinking it would be an asset when the road could be paved as it would provide them with another route to Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy. When the paving did occur it was an asset in one way but a liability in another. The traffic through the neighborhood increased considerably!

The wildlife in Bridlemile was abundant in the early days, especially the pheasants. Of course the creatures were to diminish as the homes developed.

In the initial days of the neighborhood all the children went to Robert Gray or Hayhurst Schools. In 1958 when the Haleston's daughter was ready to enter kindergarten, all children in the area transferred to the brand new Bridlemile School which at that time encompassed all eight grades.

John and Nancy identified the lots of the old map in the brochure naming the families who built the homes. The Haleston's did not know Ruth and John Powell, they must have moved out of the neighborhood by 1954.

The Haleston's are long-time Portlanders. Nancy Allison moved to Portland when she was four, and John was born here. They both went to Alameda Grade School and Grant High School. Making a move from the east side of Portland to build a home on the "far, far" west side of the city was the near equivalent to moving to Hillsboro and out in the country. Look at the west side homes now!! John was a pharmacist and, with his father, operated pharmacies in downtown Portland. For that reason John is very familiar with the development of the downtown portion of our city. The proximity of the Bridlemile district to the hub of Portland has certainly proved to be an advantage for all who have chosen this section for owing property and making a home here.