Frank Livermore Left a Lasting Legacy Throughout the Beaverton Area
Mills, Lumberyard & Public Service
Frank Livermore was a machinist for Inman-Poulsen Lumber Company in Portland before arriving in the Beaverton area with his wife, Esther, a dressmaker; daughter, Ivy; and son, Francis. Esther later gave birth to John, their third child. He, however, saw opportunities in the heavily timbered Tualatin Valley to start a sawmill that would supply lumber to build houses and commercial structures. By 1900, the family had moved to their first home on Weir Road. Local history books tell us Frank and his brother Ernest established a sawmill in 1896, near Cooper Mountain, cutting timber on its north slope; two years later a fire destroyed the building and its inventory.
There is a puzzling variation. Two Oregon City newspapers report the Livermore Brothers planing and sawmill and a flouring mill were burned to the ground in fall 1898 at Springwater in Clackamas County. Frank, they noted, was in town looking for machinery to replace what was lost. Further research will likely solve the different accounts.
The second mill was constructed shortly after in the vicinity of what is now SW 185th Avenue, possibly close to SW 179th Avenue, formerly known as Livermore Avenue. Esther there took on the duties of a camp cook: provide hearty meals to hungry workers, an important role that kept them well-fed and less likely to move on to another mill. She stayed at it until the crew became too large and other cooks were hired.
It’s unclear how many men worked for Livermore over the years, but the industry was a significant employer in the increasing demand for woods products that built houses, factories, railroad trestles, stores, and provided fuel for trains.
Within a decade, they’d moved to Huber Road (now SW 170th Avenue) in Huber, then called Perkins Corner, where he established a 3rd mill and lumber yard. The output from the 280-acre property was sold at the F.W. Livermore Building Materials store, shipped via rail from the Huber station, or delivered by horse-drawn wagon. They also farmed, owned dairy cows, and raised foxes for their fur, while Frank was President of the Bank of Beaverton. Ernest is no longer identified as co-owner.
Frank eventually sold the mill and lumberyard, later campaigning for Washington County Commissioner, holding the position for two terms before being elected County Judge. He died at age 67 of pneumonia in 1931 while in office and Esther, at age 69 of coronary occlusion in 1940. Both are buried in Crescent Grove Cemetery in Tigard.
Although the mills are long gone and the property sold by family after his death, one vestige remains: the lumber mill supply building. It had been repurposed as the Nut Loft because workers cracked nuts there for three or four years, according to Ivy Livermore Bany. In more recent years it was known as The Old Nut Loft Center, a venue for artists and community theater in the 1970s. It’s now home to Nonna Emilia’s Ristorante’ Italiano on SW Shaw Street in Aloha.
By Ann Koppy, local historian. Visit www.historyofbeaverton.org, or email info@historyofbeaverton.org.
