Officers Row

Officers Row began in the early frontier years as a procession of homes for officers and their families at Vancouver Barracks, then considered by many a remote and lonely assignment. The first officer’s quarters on the Row were log cabins built in 1850, and the only surviving example is now called the Grant House. By 1886, when the Department Commander’s quarters, now known as the Marshall House, was constructed, Vancouver Barracks had become the headquarters for the Department of the Columbia and a prestige post. Set apart from the rest of the post, Officers Row overlooked the entire garrison from the Parade Ground to the Columbia River, and in both placement and style it emphasized the separation between officers and enlisted men. Some residences were later converted to clubs where officers spent much of their free time. The Row was carefully maintained through World War II until the U.S. Army shifted its focus away from Vancouver Barracks, and its twenty-one structures were transferred to the City of Vancouver in the 1980s and rehabilitated to preserve the site’s national significance.

Portland, Oregon · United States