Vanport, Oregon flood photographs , 1948

Vanport was a World War II era public housing city in Multnomah County, Oregon built to accommodate workers of the Kaiser Shipyards in Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. The city took its name from these two neighboring cities. Vanport was constructed in 1942 out of necessity to accommodate a massive influx of workers to the area, a large number of which were African-American. At its height, Vanport was home to 40,000 people making it the second largest city in Oregon, and the largest public housing project in the United States. The population dropped after the end of the war. In order to attract post-war veterans to Vanport, the Housing Authority of Portland established the Vanport Extension Center in 1946, which would later be renamed Portland State University. On May 30, 1948 a section of a railroad embankment which served as a dyke along the Columbia River collapsed, and Vanport was flooded. The flood killed 15 people and left between 17,000 and 18,000 people homeless. This event contributed significantly to the integration of Portland, Oregon which was a majority white city, and deeply segregated prior to World War II. The location of Vanport is now home to Delta Park and the Portland International Raceway.

Sources:

McGregor, Michael. "The Vanport Flood." The Oregon History Project. March 17, 2018. https://oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/essays/the-vanport-flood/#.XUiRSSBlBPY.