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Inventory Form
NR Nomination

LOCATION AND PROPERTY NAME
address:833 NE Shaver St historic name:Rutherford, Otto and Verdell, House
Portland, Multnomah County (97212) current/other names:The Rutherford House
assoc addresses:
block/lot/tax lot:
location descr: twnshp/rng/sect/qtr sect:1N 1E 23
PROPERTY CHARACTERISTICS
resource type:Building height (stories):1.5 total elig resources:1 total inelig resources:0
elig evaluation: eligible/significant NR Status: Individually Listed
prim constr date:1904 second date:c.1950 date indiv listed:08/05/2015
primary orig use: Single Dwelling orig use comments:
second orig use:
primary style: Late 19th/20th Amer. Mvmts: Other prim style comments:
secondary style: Craftsman sec style comments:
primary siding: Shingle siding comments:Asbestos
secondary siding: Wood:Other/Undefined
plan type: architect:Unknown
builder:Joseph Tremblay (attributed)
comments/notes:
GROUPINGS / ASSOCIATIONS
Survey/Grouping Included In: Type of Grouping Date Listed Date Compiled
   African Americans in Oregon, 2014 Thematic Grouping
SHPO INFORMATION FOR THIS PROPERTY
NR date listed: 08/05/2015
ILS survey date:
RLS survey date:
Gen file date: 07/07/2006
106 Project(s): None
Special Assess Project(s): None
Federal Tax Project(s): None
ARCHITECTURAL / PROPERTY DESCRIPTION
(Includes expanded description of the building/property, setting, significant landscape features, outbuildings and alterations)
The Rutherford House is a 2,337 square foot, one-and-one-half story bungalow with a basement, a rectangular footprint, and a steeply pitched hip roof. Hip-roof dormers on the south, east, and north sides and a dramatic tapered chimney on the east façade embellish the roofline. The wood-frame building, originally clad in narrow beveled siding, is finished in asbestos shingle siding; it has a concrete foundation and composition shingle roof. The ca 1905 building displays a central entry on the front (south) façade, overlooking NE Shaver Street. It is flanked by a shallow canted bay window under boxed eaves to the left, complemented by a flush, three-part window to the right. A similar bay is located on the east façade of the building, which fronts on NE 9th Avenue. The residence, which is slightly raised, is accessed via two flights of stairs that approach a small stoop covered with a gable roof supported by two substantial posts. A major change to the building is the enclosure of the recessed front porch, originally located on the east side of the front façade, in 1936. Additional character-defining features, which were added within the historic period, include modest classical references at the front entry and in the interior, which were added in conjunction with this renovation.
HISTORY
(Chronological, descriptive history of the property from its construction through at least the historic period - preferably to the present)
The Otto G. and Verdell B. Rutherford House is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places at the local level under Criterion A, Social History, for its place in Portland’s Albina neighborhood, the center of Portland’s Civil Rights movement in the twentieth century. The Rutherford house is literally where meetings occurred, strategies were honed, letters were written, and posters and fliers created to promote key legislation supporting the movement. It is also eligible under Criterion B, Ethnic Heritage/Black, in recognition of Otto and Verdell’s longtime leadership in this movement. The house, which is now owned by a third generation member of this activist family, was the only place where the senior William H. Rutherford could buy a residence, due to exclusionary practices in Portland aimed at “Negros and Orientals,” in the 1920s. In the twentieth century, Albina was where the African American community lived, where their social institutions were located, including the NAACP, and where activism took place. Activism was sparked by poor housing conditions in the neighborhood, on-going discrimination, and repeated impacts by large public projects that cleared entire neighborhoods in the second half of the twentieth century. Otto and Verdell Rutherford were at the heart of this activism and played a critical role. They excelled in laying the ground work and maintaining the key relationships necessary to promote social change. Their efforts finally came to fruition with the 1953 passage of Oregon’s Public Accommodations Act, commonly known as the Civil Rights Act, under Otto Rutherford’s leadership as president of the Portland NAACP and Verdell’s important supporting role as secretary.
RESEARCH INFORMATION
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:
Historical Society: Other Respository:
Bibliography:
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Washington DC: US Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Interagency Resources Division, n.d. Bosco-Milligan Foundation. Cornerstones of Community: The Buildings of Portland’s African American History. Portland, OR: Bosco-Milligan Foundation, 1998. Brown, Amy, “Bogle, Kathryn (1906-2003),” The Black Past, Remembered & Reclaimed, www.BlackPast.org, accessed February 2015. “Center To Open Door To New Opportunities,” Oregonian, April 15, 1966, 5. Chandler, J. D., Hidden History of Portland, Oregon. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2013. “Civil Rights Meeting Told Portland on Trial at Polls,” Oregonian, August 26, 1950, 12. “Civil Rights Suit Hinted,” Oregonian, August 10, 1954, 1. “Civil Rights Topic,” Oregonian, August 25, 1950, 6. Clemmons, Marti, Meg Langford, Jeanne Roedel, Tasha Triplett, and Dr. Patricia A. Schechter, curators, ‘”Say We Are Here”: Digital Exhibit from the Rutherford Family Collection,” African American History in Oregon. Portland, OR: Portland State University Special Collections and University Archives, http://exhibits.library.pdx.edu/exhibits/show/say-we-are-here--selections-fr, accessed February 2015. Cobbins, Quin’Nita F., “Smith, E., June (1900-1982),” The Black Past, Remembered & Reclaimed, http://www.blackpast.org., accessed February 2015. Cober, Thomas, "Rutherford Family Collection Celebration: Poster" (2012). "Say We Are Here" Exhibit. Book 8.http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/swah_exhibit/8, accessed February 2015. Colby, Richard, “Neighborhood divided over warehouse loss,” Sunday Oregonian, March 26, 1978, A17. Davis, Lenwood G., “Sources for History Of Blacks in Oregon,” Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. 73, No. 3, September 1972. Deane, Early, “Low-Rental Housing Demanded At Albina,” Oregonian, January 27, 1966, 35. Engeman, Richard H. “and so made town and country one:” The Streetcar and the Building of Portland 1872-1920. Bachelor of Arts thesis, Reed College, Portland, OR, 1969. 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Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Press, 2010. _____, "’As Citizens of Portland We Must Protest’: Beatrice Morrow Cannady and the African American Response to D. W. Griffith's 'Masterpiece,'" Oregon Historical Quarterly. Portland, OR: Oregon Historical Society, Vol. 107, No. 3, Fall 2006, 382-409. Del Mar, David Peterson, “14th Amendment,” The Oregon Encyclopedia, http://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/14th_amendment/#.VMk-imjF98E, accessed January 2015. ____, “15th Amendment,” The Oregon Encyclopedia, http://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/15th_amendment/#.VMk2J2jF98G, accessed January 2015. Marschner, Janice, Oregon 1859, A Snapshot in Time. Portland, OR: Timber Press Inc., 2008. Millner, Darrell, “Blacks in Oregon,” The Oregon Encyclopedia. http://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/blacks_in_oregon/#.VMljfmjF98E, accessed January 2015. _____, “The Civil Rights Movement and Oregon History.” Paper presented to the National Council of Black Studies’ Annual Conference, March 1985. _____, “Oregon,” Black America: A State-by-State Historical Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, Alton Hornsby Jr., editor. ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2011. Multnomah County, Oregon Assessment and Taxation Office. Property records, microform, automated data files and card files. “NAACP Legal History,” National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,” http://www.naacp.org/pages/naacp-legal-history, accessed January 2015. National Park Service. African American Historic Places. Washington, DC: The Preservation Press, 1994. Olmos, Robert, “Negro Leaders Declare Albina Refuses To Accept Black Power Theory,” Oregonian, August 1, 1967, 16. Oral interviews by Cathy Galbraith: Otto Rutherford (1995-2000); Verdell Burdine Rutherford (1995-2001); Donald Rutherford (2000-2001); Vernell Rutherford Watson (1997-2001). Oregon Black Pioneers, A Community on the Move (exhibit). Portland, OR: Oregon Historical Society, February 1 - June 28, 2015. Oregon Black Pioneers and Kimberly Stowers Moreland, African Americans of Portland. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2013. The Oregonian. The Oregon Story – 1850-2000. Portland, OR: The Oregonian, 2000. Orsi, Richard J., Sunset Limited, The Southern Pacific Railroad and the Development of the American West, 1850-1930. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005 Pearson, Rudy, "'A Menace to the Neighborhood,' Housing and African Americans in Portland, 1841-1945," Oregon Historical Quarterly. Portland, OR: Oregon Historical Society, Vol. 102, No. 2, Summer, 2001, 158-179. _____, “Vanport, Oregon (1842-1948),” The Black Past, Remembered & Reclaimed, http://www.blackpast.org/, accessed February 2015. _____, “UnThank, Dr. DeNoval (1899-1977),” The Black Past, Remembered & Reclaimed, http://www.blackpast.org/, accessed February 2015. Peterson del Mar, David, “The Fourteenth Amendment,” The Oregon Encyclopedia, http://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/14th_amendment/#.VVuJw_lVhHw, accessed May 2015. Piasecki, Sara, “DeNorval Unthank (1899-1977),” The Oregon Encyclopedia. http://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/unthank_denorval_1899_1977_/#.VMkm3WjF98F, accessed January 2015. Polk’s Portland City Directory. Portland, Oregon: R.L. Polk & Co., Inc. 1897-1976. Portland Buildings Bureau. Building permit records. Portland Bureau of Planning. Albina Community Plan: Background Report, Vol. 1: The Albina Community. Portland, OR: Bureau of Planning, February 1991. 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Rubenstein, Sura, “Flood of Change,” Sunday Oregonian, May 24, 1998. Rutherford and Burdine family papers and memorabilia, in the possession of Verdell Burdine Rutherford and Charlotte Rutherford (note that these materials were referenced by Cathy Galbraith when this nomination was originally researched; they are now part of Special Collections at Portland State University). Rutherford, Charlotte B., “Oregon Legal Heritage, Laws of Exclusion,” Oregon State Bar Bulletin, January 2004. Rutherford, Charlotte, “Rutherford Family Collection Celebration: Charlotte Rutherford” (video), Portland, OR: Portland State University, November 8, 2012. Sanderson, William, “House Urban Affairs Committee Invades City In Search Of Ideas,” Oregonian, February 26, 2969, 15. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. Vols. 1-6. 1897-1955. Savage, Beth L., African American Historic Places. Washington DC: National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior, 1994. “Say We Are Here: Selections from the Verdell A. Burdine and Otto G. Rutherford Family Collection,” Portland State University Library Digital Exhibits. http://exhibits.library.pdx.edu/exhibits/show/say-we-are-here--selections-fr/family--migration--and-home, accessed January 2015. Schiesl, Martin, “Canson, Virna Mae (1921-2003),” The Black Past, Remembered & Reclaimed, http://www.blackpast.org., accessed February 2015. Schwantes, Carlos A., The Pacific Northwest, An Interpretive History. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1989. Sederstrom, Don, “George Washington Bush (1791-1863),” The Oregon Encyclopedia, http://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/bush_george_washington_1790_1863_1790_1863_/#.VMq5A2jF98E, accessed January 2015. Snyder, Eugene. Portland Names and Neighborhoods: Their Historic Origins. Portland, OR: Binford & Mort, 1979. “Splits Bias Suit Winnings,” Jet, Vol 7, No. 10, January 13, 1955, 8. Staehli, Alfred. Preservation Options for Portland Neighborhoods. 15 December 1975. “State Civil Rights Commission Urged by NAACP,” Oregonian, April 26, 1954, 11. “Story of York Told at Fort Clatsop,” Courier, February 1993, 14. Statesville Record & Landmark (Statesville, N.C.) 31 July, 1970. Terry, John, “Long-held tilt to bigotry stains state’s past,” Sunday Oregonian, February 24, 2002. Toll, William, “Portland Neighborhoods, Race and Progressive Resistance,” The Oregon History Project, http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/narratives/subtopic.cfm?subtopic_ID=220, accessed January 2015 “Urban League Executive Sees Negro Shift to Cities,” Oregonian, March 10, 1952, 13. US Census, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1940. Weyeneth, Robert R., Historic Preservation and the Civil Rights Movement, Identifying, Preserving, and Interpreting the Architecture of Liberation (Mss, Review Draft). Columbia, SC: University of South Caroline, November 1994. _____., “Historic Preservation and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s: A Synopsis,” Public History News, Vol. 16, No. 1, Fall 1995, 1-4.