Guide to the Sellwood-Moreland Neighborhood in Portland Oregon

Here's our list of ingredients for a thriving community: Parks, shopping, restaurants, access to public transportation, library, movie theatre, and sidewalks. It would be an added bonus if the community had schools so that kids could walk or have short bus rides. Sellwood-Moreland meets all of conditions so you may want to investigate the neighborhood to see for yourself.

Sellwood-Moreland is located five miles south of downtown Portland on the east side of the Willamette River. The Office of Neighborhood Involvement, the agency that oversees neighborhood associations, combines the neighborhoods of Sellwood and Westmoreland into Sellwood-Moreland. Westmoreland is on the east side of the community bordering McLoughlin Boulevard and Sellwood is on the west side bordering the river.

The community has two shopping areas. Coming off the Sellwood Bridge heading east, you encounter the first one at the intersection of Tacoma Street and 13th Avenue. It's the home of the Sellwood New Seasons Market along with a number of antiques stores, restaurants and other shops. The other commercial area is the Bybee/Milwaukee neighborhood less than a mile from the Tacoma/13th area and it has a market called QFC (division of Kroger's). Bybee/Milwaukee has a movie theatre, coffee shops, restaurants, a florist, clinic, and a hardware store (they actually wait on you). Plus it also has a few antiques stores.

One of my favorite place in Sellwood-Moreland is a bakery called Piece of Cake at 8306 SE 17th Avenue. The bakery is without walls so you can see the entire operation to include ovens, stoves, etc. Here's Marilyn (the owner on the left) and her assistant decorating a cake. Visit their Web site at Piece of Cake Bakery to view their goodies to include many gluten-free baked goods.

During the summer, a Farmers Market with farm fresh local produce, nursery stock, cut flowers, local cheese, baked goods, bread, fish, meat, prepared food, specialty items is held every Wednesday mid-May through September, 3:30-7:30 p.m. at SE Bybee and 14th Avenue. For a complete list of all the business establishments in the community, visit the Sellwood-Moreland Business Association Web site.

Carl Abbott has a write up about former governor Barbara Roberts living in Sellwood-Moreland in his book Greater Portland.

To view a slide show of the Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood, click here. The slide show takes you on a complete tour of the community.

The Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood began as the 1847 land claim of Henderson Llewelling who used the land to raise experimental strains of fruit. After Llewelling died in 1866, the 320 acre property was purchased by Rev. John Sellwood. In 1882, Sellwood sold 160 acres to several investors who laid out the town of Sellwood. Sellwood was incorporated in 1887 and then merged with Portland five years later. The area grew when streetcars began serving the area in 1892.

In early 1909 the 500-acre Crystal Spring livestock farm was platted into the subdivisions of Eastmoreland and Westmoreland. The developers promoted their developments as modern subdivisions which would be sold with sidewalks and curbs in place. Westmoreland's target market were the new white collar professionals who rode the streetcar to jobs in downtown Portland. The Eastmoreland Golf Course was also marketed to residents of both Westmoreland and Eastmoreland. By implication, Sellwood was an old-fashioned farm town.

The first quarter of the 20th century the two communities were in competition. As homes rose in Westmoreland, the newly-established local newspaper, the Sellwood Bee, became alarmed. It warned that a new commercial area might appear that would undermine the businesses in Sellwood. The first business, a doctor's office, was constructed at the southwest corner of Bybee and Milwaukie in 1911. As the new business area grew, competition between Sellwood and Westmoreland began and did not end for fifty years.

Sellwood Riverfront Park, overlooking the Willamette River, is the site on the first Sunday each August, for the Sundae on the Park − a civic event presented by the neighborhood association that features ice cream sundaes for a quarter, inexpensive hot dogs, old fashioned live entertainment, and displays and booths featuring historic topics related to the neighborhood. All of it, on the most unfailingly sunny weekend of the year, according to Oregon weather statistics.

Traffic impacts on Tacoma Street are a longstanding livability issue in the Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood. Every day more than 30,000 vehicles travel over the Sellwood Bridge through the heart of the neighborhood causing congestion all along Tacoma Street. Read about the proposed solutions at Tacoma Street Project.

The Sellwood part comes from Rev. John Sellwood, an Episcopal minister who held the land for a few years. Moreland is named after Julius Caesar Moreland, a successful real estate developer and also a prominent county judge.

One of the first thing you notice driving around the community is the variety of homes within a given block. You will notice Bungalows, Cottages, Victorians mixed with a number of small non-descript one-story homes. Over the years, many of the homes in the neighborhood have been purchased by ambitious people who knew a bargain when they saw one. With some sweat, they have done extensively remodeling and adding square footage to their homes. And there are still homes available in the neighborhoods waiting for someone to give them a facelift.

The area along the river has some elegant homes along with condos. There are 4-5 townhouse developments south of Tacoma.

Please be aware that the above figures are subject to error and are intended as guidelines only. To view Sellwood-Moreland homes currently for sale click here.

The neighborhood is blessed with a river park, a wildlife refuge, along with a couple of parks that include just about every thing you need in a park. Plus they have an amusement park!

Westmoreland Park Casting Pond Hand-dug by residents during the depression as part of federal job-making efforts, the concrete pond is consider to be one of only 2-3 manmade casting ponds in the USA. It is three feet deep, about 350 feet wide and 410 feet long. The pond opened in 1936 with an international fly-casting tournament. In 1940, the federal Works Progress Administration poured a concrete bottom.

The pond is a magnet for everything from fly casting to floating model boats. When it freezes over, you will even see some hockey on the ice. In years past, the Rose Festival has used it for milk carton races.

Sellwood is home to Oaks Park, one of only a handful of continuously-operating amusement parks in the United States. It was built as an attraction to the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition. Managers of The Oaks sought to portray the resort as “The People’s Park” − a place that reflected the best that the city had to offer while still embracing its citizens’ fun-loving nature.

Sara Paulson, for her master's in history from Portland State University, wrote the history of the park which you can view at Oaks Park History. If you are a carousel fan, Portland photographer Jim Lommasson has documented the Oaks Park carousel by taking photographs over the years.

The intersection at SE Sherrett Street and SE 9th Avenue is painted in bright colors and serves as a central plaza with a community bulletin board, kids' playhouse, goods exchange, and a a 24-hour tea station. The square was improved by neighborhood residents with assistance from a local nonprofit called the City Repair Project.

After installation of Share-It Square, a survey revealed that more than 85 percent of residents felt that crime had decreased, traffic had slowed, and communication between neighbors had improved.

The Sellwood bridge links the Sellwood-Westmoreland neighborhoods of Portland on the east side with Oregon Route 43/Macadam Avenue on the west side. It was built in 1925. Upon discovery of cracks in both concrete approaches in January 2004, the weight limit on the bridge was lowered from 32 tons to 10 tons. This has caused the diversion of over 75 daily bus trips over the bridge.

Planners and citizen groups have had numerous sessions as to whether the bridge should be repaired, rebuilt, closed altogether, or closed for automotive traffic but left open for pedestrians and bicycles. The cost to replace the bridge is estimated at $400 million. In early 2009 the project's Policy Advisory Group determined that the bridge should be replaced. The locally preferred alternative (existing alignment widened to the south, with a signal on the west end and a bike/pedestrian activated signal on SE 6th and Tacoma, a minimum width of 64 feet or less, with two traffic lanes, two sidewalks, and two bike lanes) was felt to best meet the community's short- and long-term needs. Next is finding the funds to begin the project.

Planners are working on the 7.3 mile Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Project that is scheduled to be open for riders in 2015. It will travel past Portland State University, South Waterfront, over a new mixed-use transit bridge to OMSI and through inner Southeast on its way to Milwaukie. Sellwood-Moreland will have two stations on the line. One station will be located at SE Tacoma Street, and will include a park-and-ride garage. One station will be located at SE Bybee Blvd, under the Bybee Bridge. A third Sellwood-Moreland Station, at SE Harold Street, is designated for construction at some future point after the line has been completed.

A video from a Portland TV station in which Sellwood-Moreland residents walk across the Sellwood Bridge to voice their concerns about the bridge.

This 3.8-mile walk combines the best of the city's urban landscape with its natural areas. Stroll the Sellwood neighborhood's scenic bluff top streets and travel the multiuse Springwater Corridor Trail through Oaks Bottom, a 140-acre birdwatcher's paradise along the Willamette River. Bring your binoculars. Click here to download the guide.

The Springwater Corridor is a multi-use trail system that begins in a Portland eastside industrial area and ends in Boring, Oregon. It cuts through Sellwood along the river in a north/south direction and then heads due east at the south end of the neighborhood The paved surface is 10-12 feet wide with soft shoulders. The hard surface trail is designed to accommodate walkers, joggers, hikers, bicycles, wheelchairs, and strollers. The Springwater Corridor began life in 1903 as the Springwater Division Line, a commuter railway that took folks from downtown Portland to outlying communities such as Estacada and Eagle Creek. In the 1950s, the automobile became the preferred method of travel and passenger service was dropped in 1958. In 1990, the city of Portland acquired portions of the corridor with the rest being picked up by Metro in the intervening years. The first stretches of the trail opened in 1996. In 2006, three bridges connecting the trail over McLoughlin Boulevard, were constructed which closed most of the gaps in the trail. Download a map of the Springwater Corridor.

Walk Score ranks 2,508 neighborhoods in the largest 40 U.S. cities to help you find a walkable place to live. Below is a Walk Score for an address in the center of the Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood.

More About Sellwood-Moreland

Neighborhood Association Web Site SMILE (Sellwood Moreland Improvement League). Visit the Sellwood blog at OregonLive.com.
Neighborhood News The Bee covers southeast Portland. The Southeast Examiner is a free weekly publication.
Location Follow the Willamette River south of downtown and cross over the Sellwood Bridge.
Topography Flat with mature trees on properties. Parks are wooded.
Sidewalks and Streets The street pattern is grid with sidewalks for walking.
2005 Livability Study 96.2% of Sellwood-Moreland residents rated their neighborhood "good" or "very good."
²Drive Time to Downtown 13-14 minutes.
Public Transportation Bus route 65X is a direct downtown route - the neighborhood has six other routes. See schedule and routes at the TriMet Web site.
³Demographics Population: 10,475. Area: 1,157 acres. Population density: 9 persons per acre. Households: 5,159. Home owners: 53%. Renters: 47%. Diversity: 9.3% non-Caucasian.
⁴Crime Stats for 2008 27 violent crimes, 40 residential burglaries, and 59 auto thefts. Total crimes per 1,000 people was 39.
Sex Offenders Click here for the State of Oregon Sex Offender Inquiry System. After agreeing to the "Conditions of Use Statement" you will be redirected to a "Enter Search Criteria" page. Insert a zip code in the "Zip" field and click on the "Query" button. Sellwood-Moreland zip code: 97202.
⁵Shopping and Services Number of supermarkets: 2. Number of health clubs: 2. Number of coffee shops: 6. Sellwood-Moreland has two quaint commercial areas separated by a quarter mile. Coming off the Sellwood Bridge heading east, you encounter the first one at the intersection of Tacoma Street and 13th Avenue. It is the home of the Sellwood New Seasons Market - quality food, great service, and they even keep the shopping carts oiled so they don't squeak. this area also has an "antiques district" plus restaurants and other shops. The other commercial area is the Bybee/Milwaukee neighborhood and it has a quality market called QFC (division of Kroger's). Bybee/Milwaukee has the Moreland Theatre, Starbucks, Dairy Queen, a florist, clinic, and a great hardware store (they actually wait on you). Click here to access a shopping guide/map of Sellwood and click here to access a shopping guide/map of Westmoreland.
Farmers Market Southeast Bybee Boulevard at 14th Avenue. 3:30-7:30 pm Wednesdays, May 13-September 30. See morelandfarmersmarket.org.
Eating Out Sellwood has some of the best neighborhood eateries in Portland: Assaggio, Caprial's Bistro, Geno's, Saburo's Sushi, and others. Mike's Drive-in at SE Tacoma & SE 17th offers tasty burgers and malts. See Willamette Week for reviews of these restaurants.
Movies The Moreland Theatre is the last single screen movie house in Portland. A mix of first runs, art films, and lesser known treats. It seats 450 patrons and when the curtain rolls back, the movie begins. You don't have to sit through the 15 minutes of "coming attractions".
Public Library The Sellwood-Moreland library branch is located on SE 13th Avenue just off SE Bidwell Street.
Who lives in Sellwood-Moreland Blue collar, white collar, and increasingly young married couples. They tend their lawn and gardens, walk in the parks, and sit on their porches.
Cars in the Neighborhood Pickups, SUVs, Chevys, Fords, and a few Hondas/Toyotas/Nissans. Just a handful of luxury autos in Sellwood.
What's in the Recycle Bin Wine bottles and a good variety of beer to include everything from empty 'Bud' cans to bottles of micro brews.
Schools Elementary school: Llewellyn. Middle school: Sellwood Middle School. High school: Cleveland HS.
School Report Card Grades Elementary schools: A/B/ C. Middle schools: B/C. High school: B. Click here for report card details.

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¹Real Estate Values Data on real estate values provided by Graphical Data, Homequest, and RMLS™.
²Drive Time to Downtown Estimated commuting time obtained from Yahoo Maps and Google Maps. Drive time was calculated from a central intersection in each neighborhood to Pioneer Courthouse Square during the morning peak commute time.³Demographics Data Numbers were obtained from Census 2000 and www.portlandmaps.com.⁴Crime Statistics Numbers on crime represent total crimes for 2008 and were obtained from county sheriff departments and the Oregon State Police. Violent crimes are defined as murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.
⁵Shopping and Services Numbers were determined from local directory listings and county/municipal library systems.