The view of Vanport from the entrance on Denver Ave. on the east side of town.
Oregon Historical Society
Vanport was built in order to provide housing for the influx of workers coming to the Kaiser Shipyards, which were able to build a ship in an average of 40.2 days during WWII. Kaiser employed nearly 100,000 workers in the Portland area during the war.
Oregon Historical Society
The frames of some early Vanport housing units before the first occupants arrived in December 1942.
Oregon Historical Society
Aerial view of the west side of Vanport.
Oregon Historical Society
Buses shuttled Vanport residents to the Kaiser Shipyards.
Oregon Historical Society
Two girls share milk and cookies at the Child Service Center on Swan Island, which provided daycare for Vanport residents.
Oregon Historical Society
A Vanport resident in her kitchen.
Oregon Historical Society
Residents file through the grocery store in the middle of town on its opening day.
Oregon Historical Society
Vanport residents host a parade along Victory Boulevard in the middle of town.
Portland State University Archives
Vanport was the home of the Vanport Extension Center, the precursor to Portland State University. Many veterans attended the school after WWII on the GI Bill.
Portland State University Archives
The Administration Building was located at the center of Vanport. A shopping center, post office, hospital, library, police and fire station, and several schools were also nearby.
Oregon Historical Society
Meat cases at one of the Vanport markets.
Oregon Historical Society
Denver Ave. in Vanport in the early days of the city.
Oregon Historical Society
An aerial view of the breach in the railroad berm that caused the Vanport flood. The berm was engineered to support railroad tracks, not to hold back large amounts of water like a dike or a levy would. Smith Lake is to the west (left) of the breach. Vancouver, WA and Mt. St. Helens are visible to the north.
Oregon Historical Society
Residents leave Vanport as the sirens warn of the coming flood.
Oregon Historical Society
Volunteers man a ropeline to help survivors out of the floodwaters.
Oregon Historical Society
Houses pile up along Denver Ave carried by the waters of the Vanport flood.
Oregon Historical Society
A house in Vanport after the flood.
Portland State University Archives
Residents evacuating Vanport.
Oregon Historical Society
A California employer sent this telegram to check with Toshi Kuge of the Portland Japaese American Citizens League to see if there had been any sign of the wife of one of his employees.
Portland State University Archives
The aftermath of the flood.
City of Portland Archives A2001-083, 1948
Young survivors of the Vanport flood at a Red Cross Refugee Center on Swan Island. 1300 former residents of Vanport were temporarily housed at the center.
Oregon Historical Society
Survivors housed in a friend's garage two days after the Vanport flood.
Oregon Historical Society
Telegram from U.S. Senator Wayne Morse to Toshi Kuge, President of the Portland chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League, informing Kuge that special congressional funds for flood survivors beyond money to rebuild dikes and furnish housing was unlikely.
On May 30, 1948, a railroad berm on the edge of Smith Lake was breached and the city of Vanport — population 18,000 — was destroyed. The water level in the Columbia and Willamette Rivers had been high for weeks, but city officials told residents on the morning of the flood: "Dikes are safe at Vanport. You will be warned if necessary. You will have time to leave. Don't get excited." Many residents were unprepared for the flood that afternoon and left with only what they could throw into a suitcase in a matter of minutes. Fifteen people died in the flood.
Vanport had been quickly built in the early 1940s to provide temporary housing to employees working in ship building and ship repair at the Kaiser Company shipyards in Portland and Vancouver. At its peak, the population was around 42,000.
Before Vanport was built, Oregon was home to few African Americans —only 2,565 in 1940. But Vanport provided unprecedented job and housing opportunities for blacks. By the end of the war, 6,000 lived in Vanport alone, drawn from all over the country.
Former State of Residence for African Americans Living in Vanport in 1945:
Source: First Annual Report of the Urban League of Portland, 1945
After WWII, Vanport's population decreased, but it also diversified as Japanese families relocated to the city after being interned during the war. When the flood destroyed the town, many of the racial minorities that had resided in Vanport moved to Portland, which until that point had had very few non-white residents.
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