Offbeat Oregon History By Finn J.D. John

Oregon lost the world’s biggest log cabin in spectacular 1964 fire

When the sun came up on the morning of August 17, 1964, Oregon was home of the world’s largest log cabin.

When the sun went down that evening, it wasn’t — and firefighters were still battling a blaze that sent flames 10 stories into the air and rained burning embers the size of apples down on neighboring houses’ roofs.

 “It was the granddaddy of all fires in this historic area of Portland,” local photographer and graphic designer Grant Kelton later wrote. “I don’t think I’ll ever see anything like it again.”

World’s biggest log cabin

The cabin was the last surviving building from the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland, and it sat across the road from Montgomery Park in the northwest section of town. It was an enormous structure, measuring 206 by 102 feet – just shy of half an acre. A full million board feet of lumber went into it.

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