What Happened to the 2nd Largest Log Cabin in the World? 

Check out the largest log cabin in the world: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jb1mTdQiWqs.html

I lived in Portland, and we had school field trips to the Forestry Building. I went twice in Grade School, and once with my parents. The official cause of the fire was declared a short in some of the original 1905 electric wiring. There were many rumors of other causes; and of course, arson was one of the top theories - but never proved. Most of the wiring was replaced in the renovation work. But some of the old (and hard to get to) wiring remained. There were maintenance workers in the building that day, and many assumed that the faulty wiring was just an excuse to keep them off the hook for an accident caused by the workers. That was never proved either. I was a youngster back then, but I still remember with awe, the large trees that built this building. Also, the year of the fire, 1964, we had the hottest summer on record 104 degrees on the Oregon Coast (unheard of), and 105 degrees in Portland. There were four 5 alarm fires that summer. Most of them were suspected set by an arsonist. That is what made the arson theory flourish. As for my opinion? I've read most everything written about the building, but I really have no idea what the true cause was.

I moved to Portland in 1963 as a kid (2nd grade) and got to go tour the building at least once or twice.The shear size of the structure and logs lining the main room was staggering to a little kid .I loved it and felt the loss of it very deeply, it was an incredible experience I will never forget.

Just heartbreaking. It's almost impossible to see trees that big anymore.

The narrator mentioned numerous times that the Forestry Building was the second largest log building. What and where was the largest, as I recall reading on a plaque outside this building that IT was the largest log cabin in the world?? I grew up in NE Portland and with my folks visited this edifice at least a dozen times in the '50s, and credit it with bolstering my strong connection with Oregon's logging heritage. My favorite display was a miniature sawmill at least eight feet long showing the mill pond, old log trucks, and intricate details of the steam powered saw blade. Somewhere in the middle of those multiple visits, they built a replica of a fire lookout tower about 25 feet tall at the far end of the colonnade of those huge vertical logs. The spectacular bird's-eye view of the displays and those logs, as if still trees reaching for the sky, will remain with me forever! Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

Excellent video. I knew nothing about this building - thank you for posting this.

I personally didn’t have the opportunity to go, but my grandparents did and they have many photos of the outside and inside in a family album. My grandparents were avid travelers and loved seeing the great buildings and architecture of America. They spoke in great detail of it and how amazing a sight it was to see down the main hall. Thank you for a wonderful video that brought back some good times with my grandparents.

I was extremely fortunate that my mother took me to that building in July just before it burn down I was nine years old. It’s some thing that I will never forget. The other great building in Oregon would be the timberline Lodge up on Mount Hood, if you haven’t seen it it’s something you definitely need to see.

I was only 7 years old but I remember my dad taking me here one Saturday after spending HOURS in the massive Montgomery Ward store a block away (now there's another fascinating story to work on ). Oddly enough a few pieces of equipment was salvaged from the blaze. I found them piled up in a city storage area in Delta park years later while patrolling the area in my Portland police car. The maintenance man I talked to said the pieces were too damaged to use but no one wanted to throw them away. Hope they wound up in the new Forestry Building. I fled the remains of that dying, once great city 6 years ago thank goodness.

I lived in NW Portland in 1963 through April 1964, and often stopped to spend a little time in this beautiful, cathedral-like building. It was wonderfully peaceful, quiet and surprisingly well lighted. I always felt better for having visited. I had recently moved to the east coast when I learned that fire had claimed that most beautiful structure --my favorite building in the world.

"Then the unthinkable happened" that thing going up in flames was literally my first thought

wow the memories, my Grandfather was one of the carpenters on the Forestry Building build. He was so proud of the building we used to go four or five times a year and spend most of the day there, the night it burnt we were living in Gresham they heard about the fire on the radio, my Mom and Dad got us up and we drove to parking lot and watched it burn to the ground, it was the saddest thing i have ever seen, my Grandfather just stood in the zoo's parking lot and cried. i don't think he ever got over it. the inside of the building was truly magnificent, makes the new building look like a junk yard reject.

i visited the log cabin forestry building when i was about 15. i remember that it was dark inside and that it was huge. i also remember that the logs were gigantic and i felt regret that such huge trees, probably 100's of years old , were cut down. it makes me realize how important it is to preserve our old growth timber areas because they are oregon's living history .

I grew up in NE Oregon and SE Washington. When we made a trip to Portland my parents usually went to the Wards department store building. A small part of the Log cabin could be seen from the parking lot. Time and time again I kept asking my parents to go see it. The answer was always no. I graduated High School in 1964 and was starting College. We were in the car and dad was starting to back out and asked me if I wanted to see it now. I think I had given up asking by then, but this time I was in a hurry to get home and declined. Seems like the fire was only a few days later---All these years I have never stopped kicking myself for saying no.

Lived in Portland for a couple years in the early 1960’s. This building was near where my Dad worked, and I visited it a couple times. From the outside it looked like it was several stories, but once you went inside it was one enormous room with wooden catwalks around the interior with displays on them. We moved away about a year after it burned, and I remember looking down on the burned shell from my Dad’s office window in the 6 story tall Montgomery Wards building. I’ve also stayed at the Yellowstone lodge, which I think is the largest log building…

I lived in Portland while the log cabin was still standing. My grade school class took a field trip to the cabin, as many did. I remember it being VERY big, with exhibits in the center and a second story walk inside around the inside of the building. It was a wonderful trip that I've always remembered. I also remember when it burned down, though I didn't see it. It was such a loss, and we were all sad when it happened.

Back in the late 1980's I worked in another landmark building in that part of Portland -- The old Montgomery Ward warehouse that had been remodeled and converted to office spaces. I used to take a walk on my lunch break and would pass the historical marker for this building. It was quite weathered and difficult to make out. I know more about it now than I did then. Thanks!

How amazing it must have been, for the first explorers on the west coast of the country, that eventually became the United States. Just imagine seeing the huge old growth trees, and the majestic redwoods! I like my modern conveniences, but would love to be able to go back in time.

OK... this begs the question, what was the *first* largest log cabin?

I had a customer who had a log home in the foothills of northern California , and she told me that house requires a lot of maintenance to keep up and was a extra expense to keep maintained

What a tragic loss. While on the topic of cabins, there's a small one in Island Park, Idaho. It's called the Johnny Sack Cabin. A little person built everything himself in the most beautiful place. It's an incredible visit.

Heartbreaking on so many levels. Thanks for sharing such amazing photos

I love that you described the worlds second largest wooden building catching fire as unthinkable!

Thank you for sharing your memory of this place. ❤

WOW! That was an amazing space! If it were still standing it would be on my bucket list. Thanks for the tour/info, from east central Missouri.

Thank you for sharing this building. When I was in art college i lived a few blocks away from the site of this building in what was the only remaining building from the Lewis and Clark Exposition (itself a totally fascinating building which was unfortunately so seedy it was a nightmare to live in in spite of its beauty...). I stumbled on the sign commemorating the forestry building on a walk and was always saddened by its tragic loss. Northwest Portland (I haven't been back since 2o12) is a very fascinating area. The lower mcCleay and Forest Park are amazing. But the air was filled with the fumes of industry north of Vaughn street as if one was living in the 189os or something. Where once was the location of the artificial lake for the exposition was filled with factories and a bizarre kind of urban industrial hellscape. I'm all for manufacturing, I always thought it was awesome that Portland still had a thriving industrial sector, as the town I am from, like most old Mill towns has transitioned almost entirely to the service industries... Nearby the site of the forestry building is an awesome old building that was the home and studio of a filmmaker from the early 2oth century. A great example of a mixed use space. Absolutely beautiful building. Portland is overflowing with amazing architecture, and at least until 2o12 when I moved away, a lot of it remained intact or was otherwise lovingly restored or rehabilitated. Which was part of the initial reason I went to art college in Portland rather than Seattle. This whole area gave me constant Inspiration for my work as an art student. Particularly in photography and sculpture. I loved wandering around with my Minolta and later a view camera on Photographic Adventures. Thanks again! Cheers ! ~~~

I live in Yakima, Wa and there are 2 castles in town. One built by Chester A. Congdon called Congdon Castle and the 2nd is Charbonneau Castle. The later is currently a floral shop on the main level. The first, from my understanding, is a private residence & fruit orchard.

I like this channel, some day I hope to visit more of the ones still standing, 👍

I was 11yrs old when it burned. Had visited on class trips and Cub Scout outings. It was so big that you could not believe you were inside a building. At that time, it was across the street from a 6 story Montgomery Ward store so I saw the ruins several times when shopping with my Mom. I still think of it whenever I drive by that spot.

I watched 2 of your videos, not doing so on purpose, but now I look for your videos lol. Subscribed! Thanks for sharing your content!

Awesome and inspiring. Thank you!

For those curious, the biggest was considered to be the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone in Wyoming. I assume determined by estimated log weight used in the construction.

Your videos are always a roller coaster ride of emotion. My wife and I watch these with such trepidation. Trees such as the ones in this building exist with such rarity now, if at all. It is too heartbreaking first thing in the morning. Perhaps, someday, you might tag or create playlists for the ones which survive and those that don’t. So your overly emotional viewers can know when to have the tissue box handy. Thank you so much.

As a young child my family lived in a very ancient, large, two-story log home in Berlin, PA. At the time the exterior had been covered with siding and the interior plastered. Still existing was the huge working fireplace in the kitchen. There was no basement. The location was about 1 1/2 blocks from where General Philson and one other man were arrested during the Whiskey Rebellion.

I was born in 1961 and got to see the forestry center's log cabin and all the displays inside only once... I remember being allowed to touch the bark on the posts but not to touch the deer or the pottery. I climbed under the velvet ropes and looked at the deer's belly but I didn't touch the deer... I was that kind of child at 16 months old.

I remember this building and visited it many times from 1940 through the early 1960's when I took my Sons to se it. We always took visitors to Oregon to se the place. What a sam to loose it to sencless

My brother was stationed at Fort Campbell, Ky. with the infantry. He told me that Gen. Mark Clark (Sr.) had a log cabin mansion built on post. I've never seen it, but it's probably huge.

The revenge of the Ents.Thought provoking.Thank you and all your associates for these interesting videos.

I am a native of Portland, Oregon. I am now 76 years old. When I was still living in Portland, I was able to visit this Portland log cabin. I remember the inside with the giant logs all standing upright like live trees. inside the building. That is about the only thing I can remember about it. What a shame, I thought, when I heard that the whole log cabin had burned down. I still live in Oregon. A few years ago, about 2010, the forestry building in Enterprise, Oregon burned down also. We had just been over that way to visit Wallowa Lake. I kept thinking that I should have stopped in there to look inside the huge forestry building, which also looked like a huge log cabin. Sadly a few months later it also burned down due to worker carelessness. What a shame !!

My earliest memory is of our family taking a Sunday drive up to the Forestry center , to see the aftermath of the fire . It left a sad impression on my young mind . I wish I could have been born earlier so that I could have seen it before it burned .

1:43 What a beauty..

Fascinating story -- and we might even say there is more to this building's legacy. Four years after the Portland world's fair, Seattle naturally had to have a fair of its own. The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909, held on the grounds of the University of Washington, had a Forestry Building of its own. I'm not sure how it compared in size to the Portland fair's Forestry Building, but if anyone says the Portland building was bigger, I'll take their word for it. Yet the Seattle version also was marketed as "the world's largest log cabin," and I should note that several of the key players in the Portland fair moved on to executive positions in the Seattle fair -- so I think they would have been careful about the superlatives. Seattle's Forestry Building was enormous as well, with many of the same design features, including an interior that used enormous logs as pillars, arranged in the same manner as a cathedral. The building was a favorite of the public, rightly described by many visitors as one of the wonders of the fair. When the fair closed, the building was among those that was retained. So what happened to it? Wood rot. In 1930, the building was considered too far gone for rehabilitation. Some said the problem was that the bark had been retained on the trunks, leaving the trunks vulnerable to rot (and, I suppose, insect damage). So the building was razed, and by the time I attended the University of Washington in the early '80s, not a trace of it remained. The site was used for construction of the Husky Union Building in the late '40s, the student-union building better known as the HUB.

Fascinating story, I knew nothing of this building, and what a tragic loss, especially since there had been successful efforts to restore it. When I first saw the title of the video, I thought it was a reference to the Idaho Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, another very large log structure. It was purchased at the end of the Fair, dismantled, and rebuilt at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, but sadly was lost long ago.

That's so sad. What a beautiful building. So sad so much was lost.

At the end of your video when you say "see you next time on, this house". I always think you're going to say "this old house". From the PBS show, or w/e. Thanks for the great content!

I walked around inside the Settler's Inn, in Medford, NJ before it burned down in 1998. Not as big as the huge hotel in Oregon, but it did have two storys and boasted the second largest fireplace east of the Mississippi. It was built starting in 1929, and probably was inspiried by the "Cathedral of Trees". I was sad to learn that it had burnt down.

I remember my Family talking about this place..thanks for the video. I guess the whole City drove/ walked to watch it burn and it burned for days. But it was a super cool place. They tried to recreate it one but just wasn't as cool...

What a tragic loss. That'd be so cool to have been there

Love the BassPro shop design

The interior pictures remind me of Bass Pro shops/ museums!!

Sad, so much cool history is ignored or destroyed these days. Thanks for keeping thisone alive.

Lived in Portland (NW Overton St) just blocks from there. Played in the park there almost weekly, climbing on the old steam engine parked there. The Folks took us inside several times besides the school field trips. I remember when it burned. We could see the flames from our house. Burning embers were floating through the air and people were climbing on their roofs with garden hoses to douse them when they landed (other fires were ignited by them). I was sad that it was gone.

I was very young when I went there. So young I don't remember whether I was with my folks or on a school field trip. I have little memories of the building: mostly of it's great size and beauty. So small are my memories that until just now I thought they were false, as no one ever seemed to know what I was talking about. We lived in Portland from 1955 til I was 10 (1962). The building has haunted my memories all these years, and I'm so glad now to know it was real. Thank you SO MUCH for this video!

I was 5 years old in 1962 when my family visited I actually didn’t remember much except it was enormous on the inside.

How did the builders get the bark to stay on. I understood that it will naturally peel off over time

I recall as a tyke, being on the balcony level, seemed so high up scared me to death. Recall the smoke plume, viewed it 15 miles away @ the farm west of Beaverton.

amazing

In 1964 I was 17yo. I do recall visiting the building at least once and even as a kid was impressed by the size of the logs and the structure. Growing up in Oregon it just seemed natural that such huge trees were common and that maybe they would rebuild. Sadly, not to be. I also visited the Montgomery Wards building across the road on what seemed like a weekly schedule. My dad was always in need of a tool or something and this was his go-to business. You could see the building from there and it just became routine to think that it would be there forever. When it burned it was a sad day in Portland. The replacement center is a far cry from what this landmark once was.

A couple of stunners near to Greenwich Connecticut, 35 and 37 Glen Avon Drive, Riverside Connecticut.

My grandparents lived not far from this giant log construction, which burned down one month before my birth. They used to talk about how beautiful and stunning the building was.

'Then the unthinkable happened' a giant building made of logs caught fire.

Such a shame it was lost to fire. It burned shortly after I was born. I was born July 1964. It looked too be a amazing place, sorry too not have been able too see it in it's day. Thank you for sharing

I was born and raised in Oregon and never heard of this, God what a tragic loss.

very sad. my office building is a giant log cabin building and burnt down as well. we rebuilt the same one again though. fingers crossed

I remember a similar story, this one is about 2 log cabins that used to form a hotel near Jetrichovice, Czech Republic. Originally built in the late 19th century, the buildings first burnt down in 1905, with reconstruction starting in the same year. At some point, both cabins became a hotel for hikers, I spent a night there in 2017. The cabins burnt down once again in summer of 2020. There is hardly any information on the future of this site, but it seems that the current owners want to rebuild it.

Now I gotta hear about the largest log cabin

In the mid-Fifties I attended school in a large log school house in Tracyton, Washington. It must have been torn down years ago because I can't even find a picture of it.

I wish I could have seen this magnificent building..☹️

That would have been amazing to see.

What a sad ending to such a magnificent building!! 😐

Such a beautiful building lost.

What beautiful trees they must have been.

Well, that is a massive bummer. I would have liked to see it.

this comment for feeding the algorithm. it likes to munch on comments, replies and likes to both. 👍 share a treat or two with it and watch the channel grow! 🍉🫐🥝

It burned and burned for a long time. Saw it as a kid back in the early 60s when I lived out of Portland. Wish I remembered more, but I was only 5 when it burned, I just have vague memories of the place. Now I was also born in Billings Montana and have seen the number one largest loge cabin many times, Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone Park.

I lived only 20 miles away. We went several times when I was young. We passed it almost every week. It was a sad day when it burned down.

When you said it was in Portland, I guessed who it ended!

Back in the heydey of The Mother Earth News, a man they referred to as Trooper Tom built a log house, and kept adding on to it. Not sure how many square feet it was, but it was pretty large. It was not long until something caused a fire, and it all went up in flames. The loss of photos and artifacts is awful. We can't copy every artifact, but we can scan documents and photos in order to preserve them from disasters. You MUST keep backups of the scans in multiple locations to insure their survival.

"Gargantuan" is a word that comes to mind and one that we don't hear too much these days.

What a magnificent endeavor and such a tragic loss! What/where is the first largest Log Cabin?

OMG WOW THAT'S AWESOME THANKS!!!💋 AMEN !!! NOOOOO How did this happen? Philadelphia USA 🇺🇲

If it’s distinction, as you mentioned several times, is the 2nd largest log cabin, a quick mention of the largest would have been beneficial.

Did you count Chateau Montebello in Canada in your little list? Because it's a HUGE log hotel..

I grew up in a house about 8 blocks or so to the West of the Forestry Building and was 12 years when it burned down. I remember hearing rumors that the building was deliberately burned down, but don't recall whether that was confirmed or not. It seemed like the government did not do much in the way of investigation of what caused the fire.

So many of these old wooden buildings have burned down over the years, such a shame.

So... Who set the fire ??

Around the turn of the century american cities was compeeting with each other showcasing good architecture. So sad they stopped......

It’s alway blasted fire! Damn!!! It’s to bad that someone didn’t think about installing a fire suppression system inside. That said I’m sure they didn’t have Halon or a dry option? Thank goodness for photos.

Nice

Thank you for the Video . Does any body have an Idea on where the largest Log Cabin was located ?

How sad & what an amazing piece of history. Those trees might still be standing today had we not cut them all down!

What a project! Was it ever determined how the fire started?

Somehow I knew it would be fire.

I'm new to your channel and liking it so far. Do you cover architecture styles from other parts of the world? Lately I've been fascinated by German Brutalist architecture. Would love to see more videos on it! 🍻

Hard to imagine there were once big trees in Oregon.

A renovation with no fire sprinklers? Leave it to dippy Portlandia

Wow! I love it. 😄 Pity about its demise.

Not a house but still a awesome building.

Like a mausoleum for trees.

When it gets that big it’s no longer a “cabin” it’s a lodge.