Parkrose 9/19/25

On the last Friday evening of the summer I decided it would be fun to spend an hour or so checking out the freeways in and around Portland.  I don’t know if Mrs. Ednold would agree that it was fun, but I slowed The Bucket to a crawl so that we could inspect every inch of that road along the way, and lots of times I even came to a complete stop, taking a minute or two to assess the infrastructure that allowed thousands of people to make their way around the city each day.  Actually, this was an involuntary inspection, and we both gave equal time to cursing some of the other drivers, thanking our lucky stars that we didn’t have to make this commute every day, and wondering how in the world other people did, and eventually, we reached our destination:  The community of Parkrose. 

courtesy of parkrosecommunityarchive.org

When it originally came into being, Parkrose wasn’t part of Portland.  It was an unincorporated area of east Multnomah County dedicated mostly to farming.  It wasn’t platted until 1911, and a branch post office of Portland was established there in 1921.  During the 1920’s and 30’s developers sold the area as a perfect alternative to living in the crowded central parts of the city, and Parkrose grew quickly.   Over the years, urban renewal projects like the Lloyd Center and Memorial Coliseum pushed many Portland residents to relocate to suburbs like Parkrose, and today many of Portland’s displaced black residents as well as refugee and immigrant communities have settled in Parkrose, making it among the most diverse communities in Oregon. 

When the original stretch of the Banfield Freeway was completed in 1955 it was only the first freeway to impact the Parkrose area, bisecting it into north and south sections.  The northern section is itself bisected by Sandy Blvd, which is mostly industrial and commercial on the north side and residential south of Sandy.   It’s easy to tell where the power lies in Portland, and probably any city, by looking at a map and seeing where the freeways are routed.  The fact that the small community of Parkrose has two interstate freeways running right through it is an indication of what Portland thinks of the community, and that it’s not the richest and most powerful part of the city.  While you’re looking at that map, you may notice the tiny city of Maywood Park completely surrounded by Portland.  That little corner of Parkrose chose to incorporate in an effort to keep the I-205 freeway from ruining their little neighborhood.  The freeway got built anyway, and half of Maywood Park is gone now, but the rest survives as a city within a city, though their kids go to Parkrose schools.  Then, just when it seemed like no more damage could be done, Parkrose was annexed by Portland in 1980.  The big city wanted Parkrose’s tax base, so for the past 45 years it’s been a northeast neighborhood of a city that many of its residents had earlier been squeezed out of.

Partly because it’s been chopped up by major thoroughfares, and partly because it was never a city of its own, Parkrose lacks a downtown area.  But in the middle of the Sandy Blvd/1-205 interchange you can find the Portland Immigrant Statue, unveiled in 2011, depicting an immigrant man standing with a suitcase by his side.  It was commissioned to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Parkrose, and is supposed to reflect the neighborhood's history and identity.  Other than that, as we found on our visit to West Linn, there’s not an overwhelming sense of place to these neighborhoods built mostly to serve as commuter towns for the city to the west.

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny early evening as we drove down Wygant St. to 104^th, where I spent parts of a few summers at my uncle’s house many, many years ago.  The old house is gone now, which is a little sad since there are no monuments or plaques to memorialize the spot, but it's probably an improvement and the only real memories I have of the place are making trips to the high school to work out on their track a few times.  So, I drove east according to those memories to see how accurate they were, and a few minutes later we were pulling into the high school parking lot off of 122^nd Ave.  There is also an entrance from Shaver St. to the south.

Because they were an independent community for so long, Parkrose isn’t part of the Portland School District, and Parkrose is the only high school in the Parkrose district.  The district even includes PDX, making me wonder how many school-age children are living at the airport. There has been a Parkrose High School since 1913, and the school in its current location has been there since 1950.  The latest of several renovations occurred in the late 1990’s, and it’s looking pretty good for a 75-year-old school.

There were entry points for both the south and north parking lots, and we paid our $6 each and found our seats on the wooden bleachers in the old wooden grandstand on the east side of the field. It's a covered grandstand with a steel frame, but the rest of it is wood painted Bronco green, and the seating is comfortable. The visitors' seating on the small wooden bleachers across the field to the west were uncovered, but had the advantage of not facing directly into the sun. As I went off to get a few pictures the pep band was just entering the field, and they marched to the north end to take their seats, with the student section between them and us.

The markings on the natural grass field were suspiciously precise, with an especially well-drawn Broncos logo at midfield, and even though I didn't witness a robot doing that work, I highly suspect that it had not been done by human hands. The black rubber track still

bordered the field, pretty much as I had remembered it, and there were also small portable bleachers on the south side of the grandstand to handle the overflow of fans. And by gametime there were too many to fit in the grandstand, with many others watching from the fence surrounding the track.

The band had already taken their places when the dance team came out and took up their formation on the track in front of us. Then the cheerleaders took their place in front of the student section, and two groups did their separate routines, sometimes together and sometimes not, so there was always one group dancing around and sometimes two. It was strange to me, but I guess they knew what they were doing. A black Bronco mascot also took his/her position between the two groups of cheerers to do some occasional jumping around and fist-pumping, and I can tell you there's nothing like a twerking Bronco to get the crowd in the mood for some football. While all that was going on, I made a trip to the concession stand beneath the bleachers for a couple of slices of pizza. You may think that the Scoop of Love ice-cream concession would be right up my alley, and normally it would be, but I was ready for something a little more substantial. Our time spent stuck in traffic had left no time for any pre-game refreshments, so I can't give a very accurate review of the pizza's quality. Cardboard would have tasted like a gourmet meal to me at that point, but it was delicious, and the volunteer staffers kept the line moving fast.

If you're old enough to remember Ralph Miller's basketball teams of the late 70's and 80's you probably already know that both Ray Blume and Steve Woodside played their high school ball at Parkrose, and middle-distance runner Dub Myers won four state championships for the Broncos before heading to Eugene and winning a national title in the 1500m for the Ducks. ​Parkrose has had several teams and individuals win state championships, including their dance team this year, but their football team has never played in a championship game.  The class of 1997 graduated without seeing their football team win a single game over four seasons, and things have gotten only slightly better since then.  The Broncos have won 4 of their 33 games since the weinerpus 2020 season.  They have a new coach this year, though, and Paris Penn has the Broncos off to a 2-0 start to the season.  They play in 5A Special District 1, and this would be their first league game of the season against the Milwaukie Mustangs, who were also undefeated at 1-0.  I wasn’t sure what the difference is between a Mustang and a Bronco, but we were about to find out.

In the first quarter there didn't seem to be much difference at all. Both defenses looked tough but each offense was able to score a touchdown and it was tied at 7 going into the second quarter. Milwaukie was able to score again in the second and took a 7 point lead into halftime, but there was still optimism from us home fans that the Broncos would step things up when they came back for the second half.

But before then we had a full agenda of non-football activities to keep us entertained. First, the Parkrose Elite dance team did a routine for us, then the band took the field and marched around in formation while playing Star Wars music. I'm no Star Wars fan, but when they tacked the Raiders of the Lost Ark theme onto the end I was happy. Then it was time for our first homecoming ceremony of the season, and a very unique ceremony it was. It was, without a doubt, the most casual crowning of a king and queen that I have ever seen, and as coronations go it was quick and pomp-less: No fancy cars, no frilly dresses, no sense that this was an occasion of any importance. It was certainly different, but everyone appeared to be pleased with it, so I can't really be too critical.

As I had expected, the Broncos came right out after halftime and scored another touchdown, and do I even need to mention anymore that the home team has swiped my high school fight song to celebrate their scores? It's crazy, but I just expect it now. The Broncos did miss their extra point though, leaving them down by 1 and needing another score to keep their winning streak intact. As it turned out, that point wasn't crucial. The Mustangs managed two more scores of their own in the third quarter and were up 28-13 after 3. The Broncos are good and well-coached, and I expect them to win a few more games this season, but the Mustangs from Milwaukie had a quarterback with a really good arm, which the Broncos didn't, and that made all the difference. Parkrose continued to threaten in the final quarter, but that 28-13 score was still on the scoreboard when the game ended, and the Broncos had lost for the first time this season.

We did try some popcorn during that fourth quarter, hoping it might ignite something in the Parkrose offense, but though it was good it didn't seem to affect the play on the field. The stands were packed with raucous Broncos supporters right up to the end of the game though, and the attendance was promising for a team that has won 4 games in its last 4 seasons. And all the roads and freeways that were gridlocked before the game were pretty empty afterward, and I could see the advantage of having an interstate just a few blocks away. The trip home was considerably faster than the one to get there.