Out on the Lake: A Look at Oswego Lake’s Architecture & History
Updated: 7 hours ago
My husband Michael and I joined 220 other people in 24 boats on Sunday September 14 for the Oswego Lake Architectural Boat Tour, presented by the Lake Oswego Preservation Society. We were all hoping for a lovely sunny day...we got a misty, rainy one.
I've lived in LO since 2005 and lived on Oswego Lake for five years—on one of its canals—before moving to our home in Old Town, so I'd been out on the lake a lot but didn't know much about the history. For Michael, it was his first time out on the lake.
We both loved the tour! Volunteers host this. Our tour guide was Andrew and our boat Captain was John Wendland who grew up in LO and is finishing up his 8th year volunteering as a LO City Councilor after also serving on the School Board for two terms. John and Andrew shared wonderful stories about the lake, its homes, architecture, and history.
Also saw City Councilor Rachel Verdick out volunteering leading a group and a candidate for City Council, Neil Tunmore. volunteered to take a boat out. He told me "Studying up for the tour gave me a lot of great information I didn't know about the lake history."
The photos and captions below share some of the stories and facts I remember from our tour.
We learned there are 72 historical homes in LO and several of them are on the lake.
As we made our way out of Lakewood Bay under the bridge through the canal which connects Lakewood Bay to the Main Lake, we saw the house that's on postcards about LO.
When I lived on the lake, my son Matt would drive the boat very slowly (as required) through this section of the lake and play the song "It's a Small World..." so I was humming that as we motored by.
The Lake Corp functioned like a golf course for me, with fees paid to maintain the water quality and infrastructure, along with the Lake Patrol, gas station and hosting social events. Boats had to be "cleaned" before coming into the lake to reduce water contamination. And people needed to pass several tests: the Oregon Boaters license, an online test from the Lake Corporation about specific laws on the lake and then an actual boat driving test administered by one the Lake Corp patrol officers. My friend Sam who moved to LO from So Cal told me when she went for her in person test she asked for a lesson and got one! I never got my boater's license. The boat we had was new, expensive and didn't turn like a car. And I didn't want to crash it and ruin summer fun for family and friends so I stuck to bringing snacks and sunscreen.
Continuing with the Architectural Boat tour, at the opening to the main lake we saw a home we'd always called "The Hotel". It turns out that the home was built by the Shilo Inn family.
We heard about the history of Oswego Lake which was first called Sucker Lake and was filled with stakes. Our history tour guide told us that "At one time people didn't want lakefront homes so the real estate developers sold a lot above that included for $50 a lake front lot to use as a watering hole for the family cow."
We also saw a historical landmark home that my friend Peggy Ackerman and her husband Rich owned.
Next we came up to the house that is known as the "Casa Blanca House" because Humphrey Bogart and his Portland-born wife, actress Mayo Methot, reportedly honeymooned in this summer cottage.
We saw several historic boat houses that the new motor boats can't fit in and certainly not the pontoon boats.
We learned that a long time ago there was a large touring boat that went out on Oswego Lake. See the photo below.
And we learned that there were boat rentals
As we went along the lake we saw the house that was rumored that Lady Gaga bought...but she didn't. People thought the side "room" would make a great music studio for her. I heard a past owner used the room as his office.
Then we went under the bridge and around The "Jantzen Island" and learned that it was owned at one point by the Jantzen swimwear company founders who held fashion shows for their swim suits and brought in people by a sea plane.
The house and "Island" and the bridge to it have been sold several times over the years and the property is now under construction. The rumor is that someone from Silicon Valley bought it under the disguise of 42 LLCs and had everyone working on the house sign NDAs so he could remain anonymous. Apparently he's heard about the great LO schools and lake life and wants to raise his kids here. Or maybe his wife is the one who made all the money and wants to do this. We shall see!
As we toured the lake we saw many lovely modern homes. I'm sharing the photos of the historically significant homes we learned about.
I was lucky enough to get a tour of the gardens and home of this property in the photograph above from the owner Janet several years ago when she joined our walking group and invited us over to see her rose garden. She shared she invited part of the Portland Symphony to play in the green solarium to the left of the house. My friend Gail sang songs from the Sound of Music in there for us.
We didn't go into West Bay nor down either of the two canals. The tour focused on homes on the Main Lake and in Lakewood Bay.
We motored down to where the Lake Corporation offices are and where lake owners go to buy gas. We learned a bit about all the work the Lake Corp does to maintain the quality of the lake water. As a former lake homeowner I remember receiving monthly emails from the expert on water quality and was so grateful for what was done to keep the lake safe and fun for people and dogs. There were algae bloom "events" and they were managed and people were alerted not to venture out nor water your gardens with lake water. There were also Lake Patrol officers who towed people home and kept the noise down and the lake safe. And the fireworks sponsored by the Lake Corp were always a highlight of the year being out on the boat watching the fireworks from above.
Learn more about the Lake Corporation: https://lakecorp.com/about-us/
Lake Life is wonderfully fun in LO for many reasons. One is that the people who live on the lake are neighbors whose kids go to school with your kids, who donate to fundraising and pay big taxes along with Lake Corp fees. It is wonderful to "have a boat in your backyard" and friends and family over to waterski, wakesurf and cruise around.
Continuing on the tour, we learned that the illustrator of the children's book series See Dick Run lived on the lake and used his kids and wife in the illustrations.
As we came back towards the marina where our tour started we learned that the building that is now a dentist office was the 1942 Ladd sales office.
We learned a lot about the importance of architects and land developers in creating Oswego Lake. One mentioned often was Richard Sundeleaf who the little Park by the marina and Lake Theater is named after.
A huge THANK YOU for ALL the volunteers who made this tour possible, along with the Lake Corporation and the Lake Oswego Preservation Society. This tour happens once a year in September. Sign up to go next year.
Get more history about the Lake from the Preservation Society Web Page:
Some of my favorite memories from Lake Life
Other happy lake memories for me:
Book Club on the boat. My friend Kathy LeVee drove us around on her boat one summer evening as we enjoyed catching up and talking about the book we'd all read that month.
My neighbors Don and Geri coming over to warn me that they'd be starting up their boat and it would be very loud...and would I like to come out on a ride on their Chris-Craft? Heck yes! I've seen them since showing the boat in LO's Collector Car and Boat show.
4th of July on the boat! First invited out by Patti and Joe Mertz. Then moved on the lake and took friends and family out to see the fireworks. One year my son who was in high school and his friends took every floating device we had out on the lake to see the fireworks. Also remember being "Uber by boat" to shuttle kids to and from their friends homes.
Helping get Bob elected to the LO School Board. Our campaign team had regular meetings at the dining table overlooking the lake while strategizing with Katy and Bob Barman about how to get him elected. He won. And served two terms.
Being out on the lake with my son Nate and his friend Rick to watch the eclipse reach 90% totality. The morning suddenly grew dark, the birds began diving for fish, and everything seemed to take on an eerie, otherworldly feeling. The boys even had a special Spotify playlist filled with fun songs about the sun.
The answer my realtor Karen McLaughlin gave to prospective buyers who asked her, "Why isn't the lake blue like Tahoe?" to which she replied, "Because everything is green in Oregon." Brilliant answer!
I'm very happy now to be married to Michael Schmidt and living in Old Town Lake Oswego with wonderful neighbors and the ability to walk to the Willamette River and over to the lake and all the restaurants and shops. We're now "River people" or "GRP people" (George Rogers Park) and still "LO people". LO is a small town with so much natural beauty and interesting, nice people.
A bit of history about Oswego Lake that I learned
Oswego Lake wasn't always called Oswego Lake. The earliest known name was related to the abundance of sucker fish in the lake and creek. Early settlers eventually called the lake Sucker Lake, a name that appears on an 1852 General Land Office survey map.
In 1850, Albert Alonzo Durham established a sawmill on Sucker Creek, the lake's outlet to the Willamette River, and founded the community of Oswego. The lake was still a much smaller natural body of water at that time—about 225 acres. We learned on the tour that it's now 3 miles long and at its deepest part, 55 feet deep.
Beginning in the 1860s, dams and other infrastructure dramatically changed the lake. The Oregon Iron & Steel Company used the water to power its industrial operations. Over time, additional dams raised the lake level and more than doubled its size.
By the late 1800s, historians say the industrial town was beginning to develop a second identity—as a summer recreation destination. Portlanders came to Sucker Lake to fish, swim and enjoy the outdoors. The arrival of the Red Electric interurban railway in 1914 made the lake even more accessible to Portland visitors.
The Ladd Estate Company wanted to market the area as an attractive residential and recreational destination and promoted the slogan “Live Where You Play.”
In 1913, the lake's name was officially changed from Sucker Lake to Oswego Lake.
Lakewood Bay's transformation happened in the 1920s.
What is now Lakewood Bay was once a seasonal wetland known as the “Duck Pond.” A basalt ridge was blasted through to create a canal connecting it to the main lake, and the area was renamed Lakewood Bay.
And the two canals now lined with homes, were added later.
The Main Canal and Blue Heron Canal were created at very different times.
Main Canal (also called the Tualatin Canal): 1872. The Main Canal was not simply an extension of the lake's natural system—it was deliberately constructed in 1872 as the connection to the Tualatin River.
Blue Heron Canal: is a shallow, man-made canal, as is the Main Canal.
And some upcoming news about the Lake
The Lake will be drawn down this year as is done every 3 years to allow lake homeowners do repairs and construction. The main lake shrinks in size around the edges but remains nice to look at. The canals, West Bay and Lakewood Bay all become shallow muddy areas and the fish all move to the main lake and the birds have quite a show catching the fish. I remember being at my friend Marla's home for Book Club at her lakefront home and watching the Eagles and Osprey dive for fish. Quite spectacular.
LO Review's Mac Larson went on the boat tour as well and wrote an article about his experiences: https://lakeoswegoreview.com/2026/09/17/lake-oswego-review-reporter-shares-tales-from-his-first-tour-of-oswego-lake/
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