If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 563

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crown Point, Columbia River Highway, Oregon, 1915

[Photo:  by Weister]

 

It is interesting and fun to find postcards that show familiar places as they were and as they became or are today.  The above card has a black & white vintage photograph of Crown Point taken by George Weister in 1915, before Vista House was built.  All three cards shared this week were purchased at the Vista House Gift Shop and are distributed by Friends of Vista House in partnership with Oregon Parks & Recreation.   

 

Dedication of Vista House, Columbia River Highway, Oregon, 1918
 

This second card has a photograph from the day of the dedication of Vista House, 5 May 1918.  At the lower front right corner is written:  #405, Cross & Dimmixx. 

 

Vista House, Crown Point on Columbia River Highway, ca 1920

The third card, above, has an aerial black & white photograph from the 1920s showing Vista House.  No photographer is credited.  All the cards are linen textured.  Bob and I visited here in 2014 and an earlier postcard Thursday #140 with modern postcards and a few other photos can be found by putting Vista House in the blog search option. 

 

Vista House is built on a basalt promontory on the Columbia River Gorge called Crown Point.  The promontory, 733 ft or 223 m above the river, has also been called Thor’s Heights or Thor’s Crown.  The Point was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1971 and has spectacular views of the river and gorge.  Vista House, built in Art Noveau style, was opened to the public in 1918.  It is an observatory that serves as a memorial to Oregon pioneers and also as a rest station for travelers.  The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

 

 

River view from upper level of Vista House, 2014

 

 

The approach to Vista House, 2014

 

 

 

Distance view of Crown Point and Vista House from the highway

 

The photographer credited on the 1915 picture, George M. Weister, was born in 1862 in Pennsylvania.  He was first a salesman for E. J. Partridge Photographic Supply Company operating out of Portland, Oregon in 1890.  Five years later, in 1895, he opened his own photography business called Weister Company where he acted as a photographer but also sold photographic supplies, lantern slides and cameras.  After Weister died in 1922 his co-worker acquired the business and an extensive collection of Weister’s negatives that were donated to Whitman College and Northwest Archives by Mrs. John D. Watson in 1979.  The photographs, some as early as 1880, date primarily from 1890 to 1920.

 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Point_(Oregon)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vista_House

https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv546538