Last Updated on June 29, 2026
The History of Portland’s “Pest Houses” (1862–1903)
The first official municipal “pest house” opened in Portland in 1862. It was a private home rented to the city for the purpose of quarantining the communicable sick. Not everyone ended up in the pest house; instead, private homes would fly a yellow flag as a warning if there were ill residents under quarantine. On September 23, 1873, the Oregon Statesman reported that “the pest house had burned on Wednesday morning,” though no location was noted.
The Balch Creek Pest House
In 1873, the city of Portland built a pest house alongside Balch Creek to quarantine smallpox cases and possibly other illnesses, such as leprosy. The city auditor selected the site because a tract of land near the head of “Giles’ Lake” had been offered to the city for that purpose—however, the connecting road cost several thousand dollars to construct. (East Portland also had its own pest house.)
In November 1888, the Albany Daily Democrat accused The Oregonian of underreporting the number of smallpox cases in Portland. A reporter from the Pioneer had enumerated 30 houses flying smallpox flags and was informed during a visit to the pest house that 20 smallpox patients were currently receiving care.
The New Northwest (Portland, Oregon) · Fri, Jun 21, 1872 (Note: There are no known images of the Balch Creek Pest House; There is an effort to rename Balch Creek – Kulla Kulla Creek.)
Epidemics and Expansion
While tuberculosis was the leading cause of death in the city in 1897, smallpox remained a constant threat (following a severe smallpox epidemic in 1889). Police Chief James Lappeus was tasked with bringing infected individuals to the Balch Creek pest house for care and treatment.
On September 3, 1902, The Oregon Daily Journal reported that for $500, Dr. James C. Zan would hire an architect and arrange to have a new main pest house building constructed. This expansion was designed to separate confirmed cases from patients exhibiting symptoms of a suspicious nature. Dr. Zan served as the health officer for the City of Portland from 1900 to 1905.
Fatalities from smallpox were not uncommon, and victims were often interred in unmarked graves under what is now the Montgomery Park parking lot. In 1903, The Oregonian tried to stir public outrage by reporting that pest house residents were living large at the city’s expense, running the headline: “Smallpox Patients are Banqueted like Monarchs.”
