GH Dictionary
Though Goose Hollow has retained its name throughout most of its history, other names have sometimes been applied to the neighborhood and places within it.
Canyon Creek: during part of the 1860s and 1870s Tanner Creek was briefly called Canyon Creek, and the area surrounding the creek was also intermittently referred to by this name.
Gander Ridge: Historically, the entire bowl of the upper elevations was called Gander Ridge. The Goose Hollow heights were so named by the young toughs, the largely Irish and German immigrant kids, who ran around in the Goose Hollow Gang. Perhaps as a way to subjugate the heights, perhaps out of resentment for the Goose Hollow name that some considered demeaning, they nicknamed the heights Gander Ridge. Around the 1890s, after Amos King had been selling plots of land on the hillside and the ridge became known as King's Hill, the Gander Ridge name shifted to the southern part of the bowl.
Goose Hollow: the neighborhood acquired this name in 1875 as first uncovered in the book Portland's Goose Hollow by Tracy Prince.
The Hollow: the lower elevations at the base of the hills have been called "The Hollow" since the 1870s.
King's Hill: has been called Park Hill, King's Hill, the Heights, Portland Heights, the West Hills, and in the 1870s-1880s it was called Gander Ridge (though this name shifted to refer to the southern heights in Goose Hollow).
The Lownsdale District: The northern end of The Hollow was intermittently (c. 1910s-1970s) called the Lownsdale District in honor of Goose Hollow's first resident. Appearing only once in the Oregonian in the 1920s, though, that name was never historically significant. This district's boundaries were Yamhill to Burnside and SW 14th to 19th.
Multnomah Athletic Club: was once called the Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club, and is currently often nicknamed "the MAC."
Paradise Valley and Paradise Hill: around the 1880s, efforts were made to change the Goose Hollow name -- which was considered derogatory. An attempt was made to rename the area as Paradise Valley and the hill to the south as Paradise Hill. However, the more colorful Goose Hollow moniker was hard to shake, so the fancier name never took off.
Providence Park: The current name of the 20,000-seat stadium and home to the Portland Timbers MLS and Thorns NWSL teams. The stadium has in the past been called Multnomah Field, Multnomah Stadium, Civic Stadium, PGE Park, and most recently Jeld-Wen Field.
Robinson's Hill: the original name for what is now called Gander Ridge in SE Goose Hollow, named after Thomas Robinson (sometimes nicknamed Old Mountain Robinson), an original Portland City Counselman who owned the land with his wife Bridget in 1854. Robinson's Hill was also referred to as Mount Robinson or Robinson Hill.
Tanner Creek: has been called Canyon Creek (during part of the 1860s and 1870s) and Old Barrels Creek (a nickname referring to the tannery vats which covered an acre of land on the current site of Civic Stadium for at least four decades.) But, since it was first used by Daniel Lownsdale in 1845 for his tannery operations, it has mostly been called Tanner Creek, though some early Oregonian stories occasionally used the name Tanner's Creek.
Vista Ridge: Until the 1950s, the area now called Vista Ridge was considered part of Gander Ridge. The Vista Ridge name only began to be used when plans were being drawn up to connect the "Stadium Freeway" (I-405) to the "Sunset Highway" (Highway 26, which, in Tanner Creek Canyon, runs over the top of the old Canyon Road). As Oregon Department of Transportation and Portland city employees discussed boring tunnels through the hill to connect the two highways, this ridge began to be referred to as Vista Ridge.
Information courtesy of Dr. Tracy J. Prince's Portland's Goose Hollow.
