Collection is open for research.
Gift of Sarah Harris, June 2022 (RL2022-076).
Dorothy Jean Bishop was born in Tillar, Arkansas, in 1942, and moved with her family to Vanport, Oregon, in 1944, so that her father could work in one of Henry Kaiser's wartime shipyards. Hurtis Mixon Hadley was born in Neveda County, Arkansas, in 1942, and his family moved to Vanport in 1945. As children, Dorothy Bishop and Hurtis Mixon Hadley survived the flooding of Vanport, and attended Portland public elementary and high schools. The couple met while Hurtis was playing music in his band, The Fabulous Majestics, and they were married in 1962.
In 1963, Dorothy Hadley graduated with her cosmetology license from the College of Beauty in the Hollywood neighborhood of Northeast Portland. In 1965, Hurtis Mixon Hadley changed his name to Hurtis Mixon Hadley, Sr. following the birth of his first son, Hurtis Mixon Hadley, Jr. In 1965, Hurtis Mixon Hadley, Sr. became the first Black Oregonian to graduate from Portland Community Colleges' Bakers Apprenticeship program. In 1970, he became the first Black bakery manager in Oregon, as well as the first Black bakery trainer in the state for the Albertsons corporation. In 1977, the Hadleys purchased the Milwaukie Pastry Kitchen, and became the owners of the first Black-owned bakery in the state of Oregon. They closed the bakery in 1985.
Oral history interview with Dorothy J. and Hurtis M. Hadley, Sr., by Sarah Harris, SR 1406, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Milwaukie Pastry Kitchen photographs and news clippings, Org. Lot 1311, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Artifacts related to the Milwaukie Pastry Kitchen are held in museum collections at the Oregon Historical Society. They are viewable online in the
This oral history interview with Dorothy J. Hadley and Hurtis M. Hadley, Sr., was conducted by Sarah Harris via Zoom videoconferencing software on November 19, 2021. The interview was conducted as part of Harris' graduate thesis project at Portland State University, in collaboration with the Hadleys, the Oregon Historical Society, and the Milwaukie Museum. A transcript of the interview is available.
In this interview, the Hadleys discuss how they first met. Hurtis M. Hadley, Sr., talks about his career and training as a bakery manager, and shares his experience of being denied a promotion because he is Black. The Hadleys talk about purchasing the Milwaukie Pastry Kitchen in 1977, about operating the business, and about their reasons for closing in 1985. They talk about raising a family while running the bakery, including the work their children did in the bakery, and about going on vacations. Dorothy J. Hadley discusses their children's education and their experience with being bused to a school in Northeast Portland, and talks about encountering racial discrimination in the school system. The Hadleys talk about the bakery's customers. Dorothy J. Hadley discusses her recent work creating and decorating mock cakes out of towels for weddings and baby showers. She also discusses their cookbook, "Stories to Laugh About"; and the origins of her nickname, Honi. The Hadleys talk about their favorite desserts sold in the bakery, and they close the interview by discussing their efforts to have the site of the bakery marked with a historical plaque.
Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA,