Historic Mississippi Ave
As in many of Portland’s walkable neighborhoods, the commercial strip that knits Mississippi Ave together runs a brief 6 blocks from Fremont to Skidmore.
Within that short distance, though, the scene encapsulates much of what has put Portland on the national radar screen. Indeed, when newly arrived 30-somethings with solid positions contact us to buy property, they only have eyes for the Mississippi Ave.
Alongside the ballast of Victorian homes like the John Palmer House, quirky shops & restaurants have coalesced to create a scene for hipsters. Paxton Gate that brands itself as an “ethically sourced taxidermy shop,” is a major draw as is Meadows, the salt shop, and Prost! that features German beers, sausage, and pretzels served at communal tables.
The shine dims a bit, though, when dipping into the past of this historic district, and Julie Lasky in her 2014 New York Times article sums things up pretty well:
“Settled mostly by Scandinavians and Germans in the late 1800s, the district — and the Boise-Eliot neighborhood to which it belongs — became heavily African-American by World War II.
In 1919, the Portland Realty Board forbade its members to sell property to blacks and Asians, except in a few places. And though that policy was formally rescinded in 1952, banks continued to redline those areas, hampering development and depriving property owners of loans for improvement.
In the 1950s through the ’70s, highway construction and urban renewal displaced many residents of northeast Portland, reconfiguring its neighborhoods and contributing to their decline.”
Indeed, 20 years ago if you drove down N. Mississippi Ave, the main claim to fame was the homemade smokers rolled out on the sidewalks that middle aged black men cooked Southern ribs in. Everyone knew this was the place to go if you wanted the real deal, even if you’d only venture out for lunch and never for dinner given the crime.
So from one of the more unsafe neighborhoods in Portland to one of the quirkiest and coolest, Mississippi Ave has come of age—even though these days smoked ribs done the old-fashioned way are all but gone.