New Historic District Designated in Forest Grove

PAINTER’S WOODS NATIONAL HISTORIC DISTRICT

Change was afoot in Forest Grove during 1891. The railroad had arrived fifteen years earlier. There was a higher proportion of professional people, and the town was drifting away from its agricultural beginnings. Expansion was in the air, and a second town plat had been laid with smaller, more affordable lot sizes on land originally purchased by R.M. Painter from Harvey Clark. Thus began Forest Grove’s newly designated Painter’s Woods National Historic District that lies generally between 15th and 12th Avenues and between Cedar and Elm Streets.

Commemorating our historical and architectural heritage is important to Forest Grove, and Painter’s Woods is the second National Register Historic District (the first, the Clark District, was designated in 2002). The new district was established through the efforts of Forest Grove’s Historic Landmarks Board working together with historic preservation consultant Kimberli Fitzgerald, who researched and prepared the detailed application. Local historian Mary Jo Morelli also made important contributions. The new district was listed on May 28, 2009.

More information on the historic districts in Forest Grove may be found at Historic Landmarks Board.