- 371N3725
- Item
- 1933-08-09
Photograph showing two flag bearers standing on either side of a stone marker, facing to the right. Unidentified people are standing in a row behind them. The photograph was probably taken on August 9, 1933, and depicts the dedication of a marker at the site of the first cabin on the west side of Portland. The dedication ceremony followed a luncheon in honor of officers from the frigate USS Constitution, who were in Portland as part of a national tour by the Constitution and crew. In a story on August 9, 1933, the Oregon Journal gave the following information about the dedication ceremony: “After the luncheon representatives of the patriotic societies went to Southwest Macadam avenue and Curry street, where the marker on the site of the first cabin on Portland’s West side, erected by William Johnson, a veteran of the battle between the Constitution and British frigate Guerriere August 19, 1812, was dedicated by the Daughters of 1812. The dedication program opened with an invocation by Mrs. James H. Huddleson, chaplain of the Daughters of 1812. Members of Boy Scout troop No. 19 formed the patrol and guard of honor for the occasion. Scouts Miln [sic] Gillespie and Donald Kirby were colorbearers, and scout Erwin Lesser was bugler.” The story reported that the ceremony included a talk by Lewis A. McArthur on the history of William Johnson’s career and remarks by Lieutenant Commander Henry Hartley, executive officer of the USS Constitution. The Journal reported that the marker was unveiled by Mary Katherine Keffer, a descendant of Johnson, and that it consisted of “a bronze plaque on a granite stone taken from the lower section of Canyon road.”