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Oregon Historic Sites Database

address:20650 SW Kinnaman Rd historic name:Masters, Andrew Jackson and Sarah Jane, House
Aloha, Washington County current/other names:
assoc addresses:
block/lot/tax lot:
location descr: twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:1S 2W 14
resource type:Building height (stories):2.0 total elig resources:1 total inelig resources:0
elig evaluation: eligible/significant NR Status: Individually Listed
prim constr date:1853 second date:c.1960 date indiv listed:09/17/2015
primary orig use: Single Dwelling orig use comments: Education: Research facility; Recreation: Museum
second orig use: Education-Related
primary style: Classical Revival: other prim style comments:
secondary style: sec style comments:
primary siding: Horizontal Board siding comments:
secondary siding: Wood:Other/Undefined
plan type: Side Passage/Entry architect:
builder:John Kuykendall
comments/notes:
Box constructed house sited on large open lot. 1960s garage addition . Condition good, integrity fair to good. Building retains original massing and eave details. Original window sash have been replaced, porch altered, external end chimney added.
Survey/Grouping Included In: Type of Grouping Date Listed Date Compiled
   Settlement-era Dwellings, Barns & Farm Groups the the Willamette Valley, Oregon Survey & Inventory Project 2013
NR date listed: 09/17/2015
ILS survey date:
RLS survey date: 01/02/2013
Gen file date: 05/15/2012
106 Project(s): None
Special Assess Project(s): None
Federal Tax Project(s): None
(Includes expanded description of the building/property, setting, significant landscape features, outbuildings and alterations)
The Andrew Jackson and Sarah Jane Masters House is a single-family residence located at 20650 SW Kinnaman Road in Aloha, Washington County, Oregon. The Classical Revival style house was built by John Kuykendall for A.J. and Sarah Jane Masters in 1854. Constructed with a hand-hewn heavy timber frame, the two-story house originally had a central hall plan. The Masters family moved into the new residence on their Donation Land Claim ten years after traveling from Missouri on one of the earliest wagon trains. With a well-documented builder, the Masters House stands as a surviving example of early settlement construction in Oregon. Careful examination of the house beginning in 2012 has revealed that the original house and materials lie beneath 161 years worth of additions and alterations to the house. The current owner, Hillsboro Parks, has committed to restoring the house to its 1854 appearance while using the restoration process as an educational tool. By peeling back the layers, integrity of design, workmanship, and association are returning to the house. There has been considerable suburban encroachment on the site, and while the Masters House is now surrounded by single family dwellings on small lots, its two acre lot sets it apart and still manages to convey and impression of openness. Given the large lot size, integrity of location and feeling are high. The house is a unique and irreplaceable example of early settlement architecture in Oregon.
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
Under the Multiple Property Document "Settlement-era Dwellings, Barns and Farm Groups of the Willamette Valley, Oregon," the Andrew Jackson and Sarah Jane Masters House meets the Registration Requirements for listing under Criterion A in the areas of Exploration/Settlement. Within the Area of Significance of Exploration/Settlement, the Masters House stands as an excellent example of a Classical Revival dwelling constructed during Oregon’s settlement period by overland emigrants. Built primarily in 1853 and completed in 1854, the house is one of only about 200 remaining from the pioneer period in the Willamette Valley. This number accounts for less than 5% of the houses that likely existed in the Willamette Valley by the mid-1860s, which is widely considered to be the end of the early settlement period for this region. The house is one of approximately 18 such dwellings remaining in Washington County. Physically, the house displays the characteristics of early Oregon buildings in its form, materials, construction methods, and architectural details, and retains sufficient integrity to convey its period of construction and historic appearance. As outlined in the "Settlement-era..." Multiple Property Documentation Form, the Masters House illustrates significance under Criterion A through its embodiment of "...the physical characteristics and limitations of frontier construction..." as well as its "...structural and stylistic makeup, and other embodied characteristics, [which reflect the] physical and social circumstances of life in mid-nineteenth century Oregon." The Masters House embodies the characteristics of many timber frame buildings constructed by the overland emigrants during the settlement period in Oregon. The house illustrates common earlier building construction techniques, with hewn structural members, rough sawn utility lumber, and planed finish materials. During the initial period of habitation encompassing the period of significance, there were relatively few alterations, primarily the expansion of the porch and some rear utility spaces, reflecting a fairly wealthy family's substantial initial construction budget. The Period of Significance for the house is 1854, when construction of the Masters House was complete, to 1896, when Andrew Jackson Masters' widow Sarah Jane died. It is significant at the local level.
Title Records Census Records Property Tax Records Local Histories
Sanborn Maps Biographical Sources SHPO Files Interviews
Obituaries Newspapers State Archives Historic Photographs
City Directories Building Permits State Library
Local Library: University Library:University of Oregon
Historical Society:Oregon Historical Society Other Respository:
Bibliography:
Ancestry.com , accessed February-March 2015. "Missouri Marriages to 1850." "Compiled Census Index, 1841-1890." U.S. Census Records, Washington County, Oregon. 1850-1880. Bancroft, Hubert Howe. The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume XXIX, History of Oregon Volume I - 1834-1848. San Francisco: The History Company, 1886. Bourke, Paul, and Donald DeBats. Washington County: Politics and Community in Antebellum America. Baltimore & London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995. Boxx, Eleanor. "Old Houses Being Restored." Oregon Journal, 7/27/1966. Carter, Liz, and Chris Ruiz. "Hanna and Eliza Gorman House." National Register Nomination, 6/30/2014. Carter, Liz. "Settlement-era Dwellings, Barns and Farm Groups of the Willamette Valley." National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form, 2014. Clark, Rosalind. Architecture Oregon Style. Portland: Professional Book Center, 1983. "Death of a Pioneer." Morning Oregonian, 4/1/1894. Dole, Philip, Papers. Un-catalogued collection, University of Oregon Special Collections, nd. Early Oregonian Search. Oregon Secretary of State. Accessed March 2015. "Mull, Noah." Website "Willoughby, Henry." Website Fitzgerald, Kim, and Deborah Raber with the Hillsboro HLAC. Hillsboro. Images of America series. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2009. Fullerton, Anne. "County's Oldest Home Still Standing on Original Land Claim in Aloha Area." The Valley News, 9/16/1954. "Funeral Near Reedville of Mrs. Sarah J. Mull." Oregonian. 9/30/1896. Gaston, Joseph. The Centennial History of Oregon, 1811-1912. Portland: Oregon, S.J. Clarke, 1912. Goad, Chris, and Donalda Speight. Map Bureau. "Shipwrecks at the Mouth of the Columbia." Website February 2015. Hawkins, William J., III and William F. Willingham. Classic Houses of Portland, Oregon. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, 1999. Hillsboro (Ore.) Argus, 3/30/1911. Hines, Rev. H.K. An Illustrated History of the State of Oregon. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1893. Hussey, J.A. Champoeg: Place of Transition. Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society, 1967. Jack, James H. "Reedville House Traced to Return from Gold Rush." Hillsboro (Ore.) Argus, 4/2/1953. Johansen, Dorothy O. "The Role of Land Laws in the Settlement of Oregon." Genealogical Material in Oregon Donation Land Claims, Volume I. Portland: The Genealogical Forum of Portland, 1957. Josephson, Janel. Aloha-Reedville. Images of America series. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Press, 2013. Kuykendall, George Benson, M.D. History of the Kuykendall Family Since its Settlement in Dutch New York in 1646. Portland: Kilham Stationery & Printing Co., 1919. "Lamentable Occurrence." Oregon Weekly Times, Portland, 10/18/1856. "Legislative Proceedings." Oregon Sentinel, Jacksonville, Oregon, 2/6/1858. Licht, Susan L. Andrew Jackson Masters House: Updated Condition Assessment and Preservation Plan, September 2013. "Masters House." State of Oregon Inventory Historic Sites and Buildings. May 1976. "Masters House." Washington County Cultural Resource Inventory. September 1983. Matthews, Richard. Limited Horizons on the Oregon Frontier: East Tualatin Plains and the Town of Hillsboro, Washington County, 1840-1890. Portland: Portland State University, 1988. McArthur, Lewis A. and Lewis L. McArthur. Oregon Geographic Names. Portland: Oregon Historical Society, 1974. Oregon Historical Records Survey, United States, Inventory of the County Archives of Oregon. Painter, Diana, and Connie Gunkel. "Aloha Farmhouse." National Register Nomination, 5/16/2014. "Plaque Placed on Masters' Century House by Tualatin Valley Heritage Group." The Valley Times, 2/1/1968. Shine, Gregory P. Oregon Encyclopedia, "Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885)." Website April 2015. Schnebly, D.J. "Editorial Correspondence." Oregon Spectator, 7/29/1851. United States General Land Office. Oregon Cadastral Maps, Township 1 South, Range 2 West. 1852 and 1862. Accessed via Bureau of Land Management "Land Records" website February 2015. United States Government. Donation Land Claim Act of 1850. Website March 2015. Unruh, John D., Jr. The Plains Across: The Overland Emigrants and the Trans-Mississippi West, 1840-1860. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1979. "Washington County Letter." Daily Oregonian, 10/8/1872. Wikipedia. Accessed February-March 2015. "Oregon Trail." Website "Tualatin Valley Highway." Website "Washington County, Oregon." Website