A branch line from the Oregon City line out to the Chautauqua Park in Gladstone. Richard Thompson dates this as existing from 1893 to 1901 in his books, but newspaper entries are telling a very different story. It’s now apparent that there were two iterations of this branch line, one existing from 1893 to 1901 and a second one from 1907 to 1926, the second-last year that the Chautauqua assembly was held at Gladstone Park.

After the original branch was abandoned and torn up in July 1901, the Chautauqua assembly was only served by main line Southern Pacific trains, which stopped at a temporary station near the assembly grounds. By 1906, the Oregon Water Power & Railway Company decided that a new branch line to the park would be profitable, and began negotiations with the Chautauqua Association. While initially hopeful of building the line to serve the 1906 assembly, service didn’t begin until July 1907 under the auspices of the Portland Railway, Light & Power Company.

Tracking down an exact end date is tricky, as journalistic enthusiasm for all things streetcar was waning in the late 1920s, but it seems that the cars served the 1926 Chautauqua, but not the 1927 edition – which was the final one held at Gladstone Park. Realistically, it would seem that the line was abandoned shortly after the completion of the 1926 assembly.

See Also: Gladstone Park Branch (1893–1901)

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