DUNTHORPE PROPERTIES Printing courtesy of Dunthorpe Properties WWW.DUNTHORPEPROPERTIES.COM | 503.675.3800
Celebrating 125 years of the Riverdale School District 11733 SW BREYMAN AVE. PORTLAND, OREGON 97219 | PHONE: 503-262-4840 | FAX: 503-262-4841
The research and assembly of historical facts and photographs was completed by Dunthorpe resident Brenda Bonnell. We greatly appreciate her dedication to this project.
The Community and History of Dunthorpe
The District Today
In 1991, Senate Bill 917 required all Oregon School Districts to offer K-12 education. The
The Community of Dunthorpe was born in January 1916, when William M Ladd’s company purchased 215 acres from the Oregon Iron & Steel
Riverdale community responded by resisting consolidation with another district and creating
Company for $1. Under the guidance of the Ladd Estate Company very
its own high school program. Riverdale High School officially opened in September 1996. The
specific provisions for the Dunthorpe development were drafted –
9-12 program was housed in Southwest Portland and then at Marylhurst University. In August of
including that only residential buildings be allowed, the sole exception
2002, the High School found a permanent home in a refurbished school on Terwilliger Boulevard
being for outbuildings housing domestic animals.
at the foot of the Lewis and Clark College campus. The high school today educates over 250 students; nearly 100% of whom enroll in higher education.
Dunthorpe is nestled between Tryon Creek State Park and the Willamette River, and is best known for its elegant properties, natural setting,
After almost 90 years of housing Riverdale District’s ever growing student
gardens, and central location. Dunthorpe is a close-knit residential
poplulation, the Doyle building was suffering from dated building systems
community located 10 minutes south of downtown Portland, Oregon
and structural disrepair. Once again, residents approved a bond measure to
near Lewis and Clark College and the city of Lake Oswego.
rebuild the historic campus in preparation for another century of excellence in education. Construction was completed for the start of the school year in
Award Winning Schools
September 2011.
The Dunthorpe Community has valued excellence in education for 125
the hallmarks of the old building’s facade. At the same time, it draws the campus together with
years. The Riverdale School District serves over 600 families living in
the development of a courtyard. Student campus safety has increased while the arts, media,
a residential, wooded area seven miles south of downtown Portland,
and technology have been integrated seamlessly within the K-8 classrooms. This combination
Oregon and adjacent to the city of Lake Oswego. The grade school is
of traditionalism and modern progressive design speaks to more than just the facility. It also is
the only public faciilitiy in the neighborhood and is a focal point for
a reflection of the determination of a neighborhood that has championed public education by
community activity. Dunthorpe’s award-winning schools provide a truly
consistently maintaining excellent facilities and educational programming since 1888.
The design of our new school captures the spirit of classical architectural elements that were
Longtime Riverdale School District supporter Sylvia Gates cuts the ribbon at the Opening Celebration of the new elementary school.
exceptional education. The student body consists of children from the local Riverdale/Dunthorpe neighborhood as well as tuition or transfer students from surrounding communities. Riverdale’s small school environment allows its committed teachers to get to know each student well. Riverdale offers the best aspects of independent schooling in a public school setting.
Gym remodeled.
1989
1991
Blue and yellow metal playground installed.
Music Building cosntructed. Oregon passes bill requiring K-12.
Riverdale passes a bond measure to build a high school.
Spacenet playground constructed.
1996
2005
1997 Gym rebuilt.
2006 Little Red Schoolhouse constructed.
Riverdale passes bond measure to rebuild grade school.
Riverdale Grade School is completed.
2008
2010
2009
Riverdale begins construction/ breaks ground.
2011
Riverdale Grade School is awarded LEED Gold 2011
District Beginnings Riverdale 51J dates back to April 24, 1888, when a small group of residents with foresight and July, 1920: Riverdale students, parents and faculty plant trees and shrubs to celebrate the opening of their new school.
determination petitioned Charles H. Gove, Oregon’s Superintendent of Schools, to emancipate “fifteen scholars of school age” from larger District #13 “on account of the distance to the schoolhouse.” 640 acres of this land west of the Willamette River was the original land grant claimed by William and Mary Torrence in 1850. In 1891, property was purchased from Arnold and Mary Myers for $1,200 to build a one-room schoolhouse called the Palatine Hill School. The school was built in a shady hollow located southeast of the Palatine-Breyman intersection. In its first year of operation 15 students were enrolled in this rural setting. The Palatine Hill School continued to thrive and prosper for 28 years.
A.E. Doyle was one of the most prolific architects of early 20th century Portland. The Multnomah County Library, Benson Hotel, the Meier and Frank Building and Reed College are some of the better known buildings he designed. Mr. and Mrs. Walter Babson with Principal Eva Campbell at the dedication of the new Riverdale Field, 1953. The Babsons donated substantial acreage in two parcels to the Riverdale School District, most of which has provided the school with a playing field.
The Palatine Hill School The Palatine Hill School was a dark and dank one-room building. It was Early 1960s: aerial view of Riverdale campus.
located in a hollow and surrounded by trees, so the only sunshine was in the early hours of the morning. In the main room there was a pot-bellied stove, which the boys kept fueled with wood. There were two outhouses behind the school. The lack of plumbing meant that two boys were chosen each day to walk down the hill to a spring and bring back a bucket full of drinking water. The water was full of polliwogs which the boys had to drain off. Some District
Indoor gymnasium constructed.
1944
1947
Mr. and Mrs. Walter Babson donate 8.3 acres in two parcels for fields.
1953
Primary wing, first four rooms constructed.
Primary wing, second five rooms constructed.
1955
1961
New playing fields dedicated.
1956 First tennis courts constructed.
1967 Drainage system installed in playing field.
residents did not want their children to attend the Palatine Hill School,
Little House in the Woods constructed.
Gym remodeled.
1968
1973
considering it dark, dank and unhealthy with only a dirt floor. In 1913, these parents opened a private school in
Riverdale School Community Park including: tennis courts, improved fields, landscaping, and playground.
the loft of a barn on the Thomas Kerr estate which became known as the Country Day School.
1888
1891
Riverdale School District established.
Palatine Hill School constructed.
Copy of an original ballot.
Growth of the District (Far Right) The Country Day first classroom in 19131914. (Right) The Country Day School’s first location as it exists today on SW Military Lane.
By 1919, the District’s neighborhoods were transitioning from summer vacation homes to permanent residences. Parents wanted and needed a better building than a one-room schoolhouse with a dirt floor. Eleven citizens petitioned the School Board, requesting that District 51J’s residents vote on a bond for $30,000 to acquire a site and build and furnish a new school building. The vote passed 53-9. As a result, three acres of land were purchased for $7,500 from the Burwell Investment Company. A. E. Doyle, a well-established Portland architect, was chosen to design the new school. Three months later a second bond was
The Country Day School
requested for $12,000 to complete the project, receiving a ‘yes’ vote of 30-1.
The loft room and its cupola, often confused in local lore to be the original public schoolhouse, still exists as a garage on S.W. Military Lane. This private school moved to two subsequent locations at the homes of
A new brick school building was erected consisting of two closed and two openair classrooms, a janitor’s room and bathrooms. When it was completed, students of the original one-room
the Corbetts and the Collins. The children of Peter Kerr, Thomas Kerr and C. H. Lewis attended this school. In
schoolhouse paraded up Breyman Avenue,
addition, four children from the Latta and Johnson families were rowed across the river from their Waverley
two-by-two, carrying the American flag to
Heights homes by John the Boatman. Roughly 17 students eventually attended this private school through
their new school. On that day in July of 1920,
5th grade, when they transferred to secondary private schools in the city. After several years of operation,
parents and children planted trees and shrubs
the parents of these students felt that the public program at the Palatine Hill School offered a more complete
to honor the opening of the new Riverdale
education for their children and the Country Day School was disbanded.
School. Each student recited an appropriate verse for every tree planted and they all sang
The children from the Country Day School joined their neighbors in 1917, substantially increasing the already
“America the Beautiful”. Planting Day became
growing student body, which necessitated the addition of a second classroom the next year. The student
Copy of the original petition for the $30,000 bond. Signers: Ben C. Dey, J. E. Blake, W. S. Bridges, Mrs. W. E. Roberts, S. B. Stuart, Phila Jane Rockey, Elliott R. Corbett, C.H. Lewis, H.A. Spencer, Chas. H. Carey and Lucy J. Corbett.
a tradition for years to come. Fifty students were enrolled. Sadly, two
population rose to 38 and this simple building was now feeling the pinch. In 1919, the community organized
to three years after the new building was built, the old Palatine Hill
to build a new facility at the grade school’s current address on Breyman Avenue. For the next 77 years,
School building burned to the ground.
Riverdale remained a one-school, K-8 district with tremendous student, parent and community support.
This handsome new facility increased the school’s popularity and, by 1923, the student population grew to 123 which led to a steady stream of structural add-ons in the years to follow. For almost 90 years, these buildings created a campus that has housed an exceptional K-8 program.
1913
1917
1920
1923
1927
Country Day school opened.
Country Day merges with Palatine Hill School.
Riverdale school opens a new K-8 school.
Auditorium, library and two-room north wing opened.
Two-room south wing, open play-shed moved to the west Outdoor gymnasium constructed.