Sight #8 Martha Washington Hotel

Martha Washington Hotel

1115 SW 11th Ave, Portland, OR 97205 (link is external)

Multnomah County Restitution Center, n.d.

Multnomah County owned the Martha Washington Hotel for 19 years, operating it as the Multnomah County Restitution Center from 1987 until 2006. The county sold the building to the City of Portland in 2009 for use as an affordable housing center.

The century-old building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was originally constructed as the Campbell Hotel. Located at 1115 SW 11th Avenue, it opened as a primarily residential hotel surrounded at the time by residential neighborhoods. In its first 20 years, the hotel was a preferred residence. Post world-war II, suburban flight led to a slow decline.

In 1961, Multnomah College bought the hotel for use as a dormitory. When the University of Portland absorbed Multnomah College in 1969, a deal was made to transfer the Campbell Hotel to the Portland Women’s Union in exchange for their existing housing, the Martha Washington, on SW 10th and Montgomery. The Union had been providing housing to young women at that site since 1917. They renamed the Campbell Hotel the Martha Washington Hotel and continued providing services until 1982 when they decided to sell the building.

The buyer was Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. His followers operated the Hotel Rajneeshin downtown Portland from 1983 until its sale to the County in 1986. Wild Wild Country indeed!