Rockwood is a neighborhood in the northwest section of Gresham, Oregon, bounded on the west by 162nd Avenue, on the north by the Columbia River, on the east by 202nd Avenue/Birdsdale Avenue, and on the south by SE Division.[1] It is situated at an elevation of 76 meters (249 ft).[2]
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In the late 19th century, a stone marker was placed every mile east of the courthouse in Portland, resulting in a "Base Line Road" along the Willamette Baseline: Rockwood developed at the 10-mile mark, in a rocky and wooded area that was later the inspiration for the name of the community.[3] A Ten-Mile Inn located in present-day Rockwood became a stagecoach stop, a junction that also attracted a school, a grange hall, a church, a grocery store, among other businesses.[3]
The Rockwood area was annexed by Gresham in the mid-1980s.[3]
Rockwood has the highest poverty levels in east Multnomah County[4] About nine out of 10 students at the two elementary schools in the area receive federally subsidized meals.[5]
Since 2003, a 1,200-acre (490 ha) area of Rockwood has been included in a Gresham-Rockwood Urban Renewal Area.[3]
Rockwood is served by the Rockwood / East 188th Avenue light-rail station on the MAX Blue Line. The neighborhood has been the site of a branch of the Multnomah County Library since 1963.[6]
In April 2010, decades after a 1960s state law required Multnomah County to provide a court services in Gresham for residents east of 122nd Avenue, the county's Board of Commissioners approving a resolution that and calls for the construction of a courthouse in Rockwood by 2012.[7]