Albany OR History

12/28/2017

1953: Albany's Drive-In Movie Theater opens for business on the same lot that today's Bi-Mart store occupies. It is said the theater could accommodate 500 cars. "The Untamed Breed" and "Lure of the Wilderness" were the first films shown. The theater was torn down for relocation in 1968, and reopened in 1970 off of Hwy 99 in Tangent. The theater was closed for good in 1986. The image presented contains a 1960's aerial photo of Albany's Drive-In Theater superimposed over a modern aerial view of the area for ease of reference.
(If anyone has any photos that they are willing to share, please let me know! Photos of Albany's Drive In Have Been Hard To Come By!)

1953: Albany's Drive-In Movie Theater opens for business on the same lot that today's Bi-Mart store occupies. It is said the theater could accommodate 500 cars. "The Untamed Breed" and "Lure of the Wilderness" were the first films shown. The theater was torn down for relocation in 1968, and reopened in 1970 off of Hwy 99 in Tangent. The theater was closed for good in 1986. The image presented contains a 1960's aerial photo of Albany's Drive-In Theater superimposed over a modern aerial view of the area for ease of reference.
(If anyone has any photos that they are willing to share, please let me know! Photos of Albany's Drive In Have Been Hard To Come By!)

12/21/2017

1939: The railroad overpass under construction, with the Albany train station in the background. This overpass is the reason Waverly Lake (across the street from WinnCo) exists; the dirt from the hole that is the lake is the dirt the overpass is made of.
The builders plaque is still there today, but it's kind of hard to see when you're driving by at 35 mph.

12/13/2017

Albany's first bridge, from what today is Monteith Park,, looking across The Willamette River towards North Albany, Oregon in about 1900.

11/21/2017

🚋____The Albany Streetcar System_____🚋
by Richard Thompson on oregonencyclopedia,org
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The Albany Street Railway Company began operation on August 30, 1889, with a one-mile horse-car line that ran from the Southern Pacific depot to downtown by way of Lyon Street and First Avenue, terminating at Second and Washington. Car No. 1 was manufactured locally by A.J. Anslyn and the Albany Iron Works.

In 1892, an extension was built from the train station south to the Goltra Addition. A steam dummy engine pulled Car No. 1 over the half-mile route, which ended near the orphan home run by the Ladies Aid Society. Steam dummies were small locomotives housed in streetcar-like bodies that were believed to be attractive, as well as less frightening to horses.

William H. Goltra, a banker and Street Railway vice president, had been responsible for procurring the engine, but the railway found it too expensive to operate. When the engine broke down in about 1900, both it and the Goltra Park extension were abandoned and Albany streetcars reverted to horsepower. By 1903, however, growing ridership allowed the railway to purchase a coach and a small Porter steam locomotive known as a “dinky.”

Electrification of the Albany Street Railway came after its acquisition by the Portland, Eugene and Eastern Railway on December 31, 1908 (the Southern Pacific Railroad later purchased the Portland, Eugene and Eastern Railway in 1915). Two trolleys served Albany’s single route. Interestingly, there is no mention of a car barn after the horse cars were retired. The new electric streetcars were apparently kept in a railway yard, and they were swapped with cars from the Southern Pacific’s Salem or Eugene streetcar systems when they needed maintenance.

As it happened, trolleys would reign in Albany for less than a decade. In 1918, the city that had inaugurated the first motorized street railway in the state outside of Portland became the first to abandon streetcars.

( Information about the author- https://oregonencyclopedia.org/authors/T/ #654 )

11/14/2017

A late *50's gander down Geary St.

11/14/2017

11/13/2017

11/11/2017

In the early 1900's, factories, industries, Cities and towns all dump their waste directly into the Willamette river. By the 1930s, the river was biologically dead – and certainly unsafe for swimming. This condition persisted until after World War II, when federally funded sewage treatment facilities and other pollution controls began to restore the river, which was declared safe for swimming in 1972.
"The Willamette River Pollution Film" is a 16 mm color, silent 39 minute,circa 1940 film of pollution in the Willamette River and its tributaries. The footage includes tests of the length of time that small fish can survive in the river and chemical tests of the water. The film includes footage of the river or its tributaries at Springfield, Eugene, Corvallis, Crabtree, Lebanon, Salem, Woodburn, and Portland.

11/01/2017

Sporting a brand new Waverly Lake, the today locations of The Talking Water Gardens, Costco, Front Street Inn, Winn-co, Burger King and Dairy Queen have been marked for convenience of reference on this mid1940's Albany photo.