Peninsula Iron WOrks

May 5, 2022

I doubt I would have done a page on the iron works, before I pinned down the location of the Portland Woolen Mills, I was wondering if I had any photos of the old buildings from a trip to Cathedral Park in 2020. Turns out, I only had shots of this place.

At first, I wondered if the iron works had moved into an old mill building, but no, they've been at this location for a long time, almost as long as the mill itself. The Portland Woolery Mills' facilities were a block or so north of here.

DEQ: Cleanup Site Information (ECSI) Database Site Summary Report - Details for Site ID 5686, Peninsula Iron Works, May 5, 2022

The site was originally developed in 1905 as a horse stable and, in 1911, began operating as a foundry, machine and blacksmith shops servicing the wood products industry along the Columbia/Willamette peninsula. During the �lend lease� years of WWI, the facility producted tail shafts, rudders, stern tubes, and steering gears for wooden cargo ships built for Great Britain. After WWI, the facility returned to supporting the timber industry with sawmill carriages, lumber-handling equipment and a portable drag saw. They also manufactured the first chain saw. During WWII, the facility joined other local industries that fuctioned around the clock to supply goods and services for the war effort. After WWII, the business refocused on manufacturing products for the timber industry.

Foundry, machine works, and pattern works operations continued at the site through the 1950s. George Johnson began working as a machinist at the site in 1925, acquired stock ownership in 1946 and eventually the Johnson family became the sole owners of the facility, which they maintain today. By 1969, the Johnson family remodeled the facility in phases and focused on machine shop and metal fabrication operations, which continue today.

https://www.deq.state.or.us/lq/ECSI/ecsidetail.asp?seqnbr=5686 (Accessed: May 5, 2022)

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