Criterion A: Politics/Government
Criterion A: Community Planning and Development
Period of Significance: 1942 - 1953
Local Level of Significance
The ninety-one building Sagamore Village public housing complex is eligible for the National Register at the local level of significance. It is significant under Criterion A: Politics/Government for association with the 1940 Lanham Act, passed by Congress in 1940 to facilitate expanded national defense activities, including the creation of housing for defense workers. Sagamore Village provided housing to shipyard workers building Liberty Ships during World War II. The district also has political significance for its role in the creation of the Portland Housing Authority to repurpose the former shipyard worker housing to provide public housing to low-income families displaced by Portland's Urban Renewal slum clearances during the 1950s. The district is significant under Criterion A: Community Planning and Development as a World War II planned community development that provided a model for post-war residential developments in greater Portland. Sagamore Village also is significant under Criterion C as a significant and distinguishable entity. The period of significance extends from when the complex was built in 1942 until 1953 when it was purchased by the newly formed Portland Housing Authority to be used as the first low income housing administered by the city.