How many times have you been asked, “How long have you lived in Lake Oswego?” Today, my response is: “Seventy-six years, and until ca. 1959, it was Oswego, Oregon.” Generally, the next question is, “How has life in the city changed?” Well, it has changed in many ways. Perhaps this would make an interesting series of articles for Jottings. Meanwhile, I will give you my short answer.

Today the population of Lake Oswego is approximately 40,000 people. In 1950, the population of Oswego was 3,316 people. This, however, is misleading because subsequently, the already-developed community of Lake Grove was annexed. That alone increased the population count to 8,906 people. To put the population in perspective, there was one high school, Lake Oswego High School, and my graduating class in 1956 included 120 students while in 2022, it was approximately 320. The two high schools combined had about 641 graduates.

In general, a majority of the houses were much smaller than today and consisted of a living room/dining area and kitchen plus one bathroom, two or three bedrooms and a one-car garage. The rooms were smaller and the lots were bigger, and there were large vacant lots in the neighborhoods where the children built forts high in the trees, and played games such as “Hide and Seek.” We all had dogs, and they ran freely and loved it too! Many had a horse or two in their backyard, and rode on the hundreds of miles of trails as well as to a friend’s home. The horse was tied to the mailbox. We walked or rode our bicycles and some rode their horses. Rod Grimm delivered newspapers riding his horse. There were no student cars in the high school parking lot. We rode the school bus or walked. We were in good physical shape as we got a lot of exercise, and too, we had a sense of community.

How did we get to Portland? There was excellent bus service. And it was safe for a 12-year-old to ride the bus to the art museum for art lessons or visit the orthodontist. Looking back on it, we often wonder about our parents’ judgement. But! There was never a problem. We would have learned about it from the Oswego Review.

During the winter, school-age children were busy with school work, campfire girls, Scouts and school and church programs. Some took music lessons and others rode horses. And some built crystal set radios so rather than sleep, they could listen to “The Lone Ranger” plus all of the mysteries such as “Only the Shadow Knows” using headphones and hence, without our parents knowing it, at least so we thought. In the winter, Saturday morning was spent cleaning one’s bedroom so our parents would let us go to the Lake Theater in the afternoon. Some chose to spend all day Saturday or Sunday skiing on Mt. Hood. In the summer, our time centered around the lake and the swim parks.

For some of us, our parents insisted that we earn some money to pay for our Saturday afternoon at the Lake Theater. I baby sat for 35 cents an hour and mowed a few lawns for 50 cents each which in today’s value is approximately $4.15 and $5.50 respectively. Then, the Hunt Club needed children to cool the polo ponies. That paid $1 per horse. It was possible to earn $4 a week in the 1950s. Then, many of us tried strawberry picking in the summer! We rode a bus to the field and that was the best part! It was hot and hard work, and I physically hurt from bending over. From that day forward, I was college bound. Seriously, it was a life changing experience. We were content with babysitting and mowing lawns. Some of us felt rich and as I recall, the Lake Theater was 25 cents and riding lessons were $1.50. What to do with the remaining money?

In my family, we had dinnertime money management lessons. Seemingly centuries ago, we learned about simple vs. compound interest, selecting stocks and setting a when-to-sell time. We each received $100 to invest. We went to a brokerage and bought some stock unaided by our parents. Each night at the dinner table we had to report about how our stock was doing. All I will tell you is that I sold my stock for less than I paid for it. That was the end of it. I learned to let a professional manage it with my oversight.

We all agree that we had a perfect childhood, and it is joyful to share it with you. More later!

Adrianne Brockman is a member of the Jottings writing group at the Lake Oswego Adult Community Center.