"Continuing up the hill on the main highway, the former Julius Meier estate, Menucha... comes into view. Meier purchased the property in April, 1914, and started construction on the estate in November that year."

Page Index

• Wright Hall

Menucha Retreat and Conference Center

In 1874, Captain Painter, an English sailor whose ship wrecked in Hawaii some years earlier, fled the island with his Hawaiian wife when family members were threatened with confinement to a leper colony. The Painters aimed for Oregon and homesteaded Menucha. Their orchard still bears fruit.

Forty years later, Julius Meier, partner in the Meier and Frank department stores, envisioned a country retreat. He scouted a site away from the bustle of Portland and the distractions of a political career – one that would see him become Governor of Oregon from 1931 to 1935. The Meier family purchased the Painter property and named it “Menucha,” a place of rural elegance where notables like Herbert Hoover and FranklinDelano Roosevelt came for visits.

Initially, the Meiers reached Menucha from Portland by steam-power up the Columbia. But, in 1913, just as the Model-T automobile was rolling off assembly lines, ground was broken on the Northwest’s first major paved highway — in the Gorge. Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the “poem in stone” became the first Scenic Highway in America.

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In 1950, First Presbyterian Church of Portland purchased the property from the Meier family, who were pleased to see it dedicated as an ecumenical center, a gift in perpetuity to communities of people from around the world. Today, we continue this elegant legacy hosting guest groups from all over the world as well as offering our own programs.

April 12, 2020

Been focused on the site rebuild, but yes, a ton of new Menucha content will be rolling out soon.

Video (By others...)

Links

CLICK HERE to continue exploring the highway