Kronenberg Oregon and the Meadowland Dairy
Name: Kronenberg
Class: H2
GPS: 45.493315, -122.494300 or 16430 SE Powell Blvd, Portland Oregon
Directions:
From downtown Portland, take Highway 26 East towards Gresham. The “town” as it were was located at the foot of Powell Butte.
Description:
The town of Kronenberg Oregon was actually pretty short lived. The first settlers here were the Camp Family who started an orchard and cattle farm on Camp Butte, now known as Powell Butte, in 1880.
An nice Victorian Farm House was built at what is now 16430 SE Powell in 1892.
Enough citizens were in the area that by 1893 that post office was opened on April 10th of that year. Joseph Kronenberg became the first and only post master and lent his name to the town. The post office was located in his home, which was said to be at what is now SE 162nd. The post office lasted for four years, closing to Rockwood on February 8th, 1897.[zotpressInText item=”USXUUJFK” format=”%num%”]
Henry and Anna Anderegg
In 1908, Swiss immigrants Henry and Anna Anderegg, and brother-in-law Henry Naegeli, leased from the City, Camp Butte. They had previously started a milk plant at Southwest 14th and Jefferson Street. The dairy was a herd of 600 to 800 dairy cows, and some Percheron Draft Horses on the property. Named Mountain View Dairy for it’s view of snow covered Mt. Hood, and Mt. St. Helens, the family home became a community center for the local Swiss Community.
Several houses sprung up along Powell between 1905 and 1924, presumably built by members in this community. The Anderegg family had four children, Walter, Tracy (male), Lillian, and Lena. Lillian was born on the Butte in 1924, but the family and the dairy moved down to the Victorian farmhouse when she was six months old. The dairy now took up all the land on the south side of Powell from SE 157th to SE 174th. The City allowed the family to continue grazing cattle on the butte to maintain the meadows and keep them from becoming over grown.
The name of the dairy also likely changed at this time from Mountain View Dairy to Meadowland Dairy. The dairy was definitely a family run operation, although with that number of cattle the had a number of farmhands. Walter ran the first motorized milk truck in Oregon, and the daughters helped milk cattle. Lillian married Wayne Adams, who was had once worked on the dairy, in 1948 and farmed the land until his death in 1989.
The dairy itself was split in the early 1970s between the four children. Lillian got the part with the Victorian Farmhouse. Her portion was developed into a community called the Meadowcrest Farm Estates Mobile Home Park. She still lives in the home and is active in the advisory committee for the Powell Butte Nature Park.
Unfortunately, the historic barn on the property burned down on February 1, 2011. It was a total loss.
Barn Fire, Feb 1, 2011. Photo from the Oregonian.
Outstanding Questions:
When did the Butte become City Property?
When did Portland annex the area of Kronenberg Oregon?
When did the Butte become a Nature Area?
What was the exact ownership of the Dairy?
How did the family run it?
Did they have an onsite shop since they were giving away chocolate milk and ice cream at the time?
Bibliography:
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An historical timeline of the Portland Water Bureau’s History at Powell Butte answers several of the outstanding questions:
http://www.conservationregistry.org/assets/0000/5876/Portland_Water_Bureau_History_at_Powell_Butte.pdf
I found this article while researching the Meadowland Dairy home. This property is important to my family because my grandfather, Ralph Middleton, was born in this house on August 25, 1911. Sadly, his mother Amanda Middleton passed away in the house due to childbirth complications. Ralph was her 11th child. She was 47 years old. My family has always been a little saddened that our family’s history in the house has been forgotten. The residents did not in fact begin with the Camps and end with the Andereggs. The Middleton family lived here between. My only guess as to why the Middleton family has never been mentioned is that they rented the property and home. The only mention of the name Middleton was documented by one of the Anderegg sons saying his parents “purchased the Middleton home in 1924.” I was told this by the Gresham Historical Society. We have several photos of our family outside the house circa 1908 if anyone is interested. These photos always hung in my childhood home and I have always cherished them. I am in the process of preserving these photos through the Gresham Historical Society.
Thank you for the additional information!