Oregon: Years Apart #015. Benson Polytechnic, Portland, Oregon
Here is the entrance to Benson Polytechnic in Portland, Oregon, years apart.
October 27, 1918 with the 3rd U.S. Army Training Detachment commanded by Major Robert A. Roose
September 25, 1918
First thing you might notice is almost 100 years after the first picture was taken, the people are gone. They are no longer are living (if they were living they would be more than 110 years old, but few people get to that age to-day). Certainly even if they were alive I was not able to invite them to pose for the second picture!.
Also: originally there was no flagpole, garbage can or seats at that location. They would have blocked the view of all the boys!
A few minor additions after almost 100 years: bushes, the street number, the rectangular things between the first floor window and the left most column and railings.
There are railings all around the building and no doubt they were added later for safety reasons.
Other than that, though, it is nice to see a school building last and still be useful after a century: it was built in 1917, so in the first picture it was a new school.
There are reasons to be concerned, though, for the building's future.
First: the city is looking to tighten earthquake protections for buildings. This means that if brick buildings can't strengthen against quakes, they may have to tear them down!
Second: the school district (PPS: Portland Public Schools) itself does not celebrate its structures as historic. The district does not have pride enough in its history and that of the community to mention the architecture, art and other aspects of its structures in its webpages. When it asks for money to make changes to its buildings, its publicity rarely talks about historic preservation.
The bottom line for school districts, of course, is to teach students, not to preserve history. However, I maintain historic preservation is a smart use of resources when done with attention to other goals of modernizing curricula and increasing safety for the people who are within the structures. Talking about history, a subject matter in education, should not be mutually exclusive from a school district's mandate.
It is also good to note that, one hundred years later, we are not intent to send young men to fight a war overseas. Young men do volunteer to fight for the U.S.A. in various conflicts overseas, but they are not brought in en masse by draft.
October 27, 1918 with the 3rd U.S. Army Training Detachment commanded by Major Robert A. Roose
September 25, 1918
First thing you might notice is almost 100 years after the first picture was taken, the people are gone. They are no longer are living (if they were living they would be more than 110 years old, but few people get to that age to-day). Certainly even if they were alive I was not able to invite them to pose for the second picture!.
Also: originally there was no flagpole, garbage can or seats at that location. They would have blocked the view of all the boys!
A few minor additions after almost 100 years: bushes, the street number, the rectangular things between the first floor window and the left most column and railings.
There are railings all around the building and no doubt they were added later for safety reasons.
Other than that, though, it is nice to see a school building last and still be useful after a century: it was built in 1917, so in the first picture it was a new school.
There are reasons to be concerned, though, for the building's future.
First: the city is looking to tighten earthquake protections for buildings. This means that if brick buildings can't strengthen against quakes, they may have to tear them down!
Second: the school district (PPS: Portland Public Schools) itself does not celebrate its structures as historic. The district does not have pride enough in its history and that of the community to mention the architecture, art and other aspects of its structures in its webpages. When it asks for money to make changes to its buildings, its publicity rarely talks about historic preservation.
The bottom line for school districts, of course, is to teach students, not to preserve history. However, I maintain historic preservation is a smart use of resources when done with attention to other goals of modernizing curricula and increasing safety for the people who are within the structures. Talking about history, a subject matter in education, should not be mutually exclusive from a school district's mandate.
It is also good to note that, one hundred years later, we are not intent to send young men to fight a war overseas. Young men do volunteer to fight for the U.S.A. in various conflicts overseas, but they are not brought in en masse by draft.