North America’s Only Municipal Elevator Keeping City Alive

With a population of approximately 37,000, Oregon City (O.C.), Oregon holds North America’s only government provided and publicly accessible municipal elevator, one of only eight outdoor municipal elevators in the world. O.C., a blue-collar suburb of Portland, is the oldest city in the state and the first incorporated U.S. city west of the Rocky Mountains. Municipal elevators are not nearly as old as the historic city, the first widely believed to be the Lacerda Elevator in Salvador, Brazil, built in 1873. Yet, the old town of O.C. has redefined what a public municipal elevator can mean for a community.

With a basalt cliffside running directly through two of its neighborhoods, the Portland suburb received its first iteration of the O.C. Municipal Elevator in 1915. The original elevator was built as an alternate means of transportation for the residents of the city. Not everyone could, or wanted to, take the 722 steps it took to climb the cliffside. The current elevator, built in 1954–1955, is a 130-ft sign of its time. With a retro-futuristic look resembling a flying saucer, the updated municipal elevator remains a shining symbol of progress for the community. The elevator not only enhances the walkability of the city, being in the heart of the town on Main Street, but is also on the National Register of Historic Places. The 70-year-old elevator employed the use of an operator until the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. Today, ridership can rise as high as 1,300 people per day in the tourist-friendly Portland suburb.

Riders can take the O.C. Municipal Elevator for free, of course, anytime between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday (10 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Sunday). On the top floor lies an observation deck with panoramic views and a path that leads riders along the Singer Hill Bluff, providing sweeping views of the Willamette River and Willamette Falls, the nation’s second-largest waterfall by volume. Riders can also spot the recently burned former Blue Heron Paper Mill, which is part of nearly 24 acres purchased by the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde to be the home of the future Tumwata Village. The O.C. Municipal Elevator connects the community in more ways than one, being utilized for history lessons as well as projection events, like the New Year’s Eve projection of locals playing Space Invaders.