Fun Fact #7 Lost Flanders Street Home Found Thanks to Local History Detective Mike Ryerson

Written by

Tanya March

in

Last Updated on July 4, 2026

#7 The Mystery of the Lost Flanders Street Home

There is a pile of slabwood more like a mound than and pile, three houses in image the Sladen house is a mansion two dormires a porch a sleeping porch all in the shot. Roads Flanders and NW 21st are dirt wooden sidewalk
Sladen House Courtesy Sladen Family & Mike’s History Tours (our old branding)

Portland’s layers of street re-naming and re-numbering can some times cause a house to get lost. The Flanders Street home was found thanks to Local History Detective Slabtown team member Mike Ryerson. When Civil War army veteran Captain Joseph A. Sladen retired from the military in the early 1890s, he built a beautiful home for his large family on Flanders Street. This structure is one of the last remaining 1890s mansions in the boundaries of the Alphabet Historic District.

A Family Reconnection

Sladen in military attire full body pose one had holding the brim of a hat other holding a chair its as if he is trying to look like a bearded average Jo cowboy not the military captain in dress uniform
Captain Sladen courtesy Mike Ryerson

After Sladen died in 1911, his family eventually moved to various locations, many of his descendants live in the east coast region of the country. When his descendants attempted to find the historic old house based on the address obtained on multiple sources including: historic letters, Polk directories and federal census enumerations, they determined that their assessorial home had been demolished. After being lost for 75 years, we’ve informed them we found it right where he’d left it.

Digging into Neighborhood History

 We are always digging deep into the neighborhood history to enrich our walking tours: In 2013 after this fun fact came out became fascinated with the remodeling being done on the Captain Joseph A. Sladen Home at NW 22nd Flanders. Mike Ryerson contacted the owners to learn more about their restoration project and what the current owner did or did not know about the history of the house.

Uncovering Captain Sladen’s Legacy

Co-owner Robert Wagner, a partner in the law firm of Miller & Wagner who occupies the building, told us the house was originally the home of Captain Sladen who had served in the Civil War. He went on to tell us that a book had been written called Making Peace with Cochise: The 1872 Journal of Captain Joseph Alton Sladen which was compiled from entries in Sladen’s journal during his military days. (More on the book later.)

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