Dutch Village

The Dutch Village service station and shopping center was where the new office building in Hillsdale now stands, the former site of Baskin Robbins and Texaco.

You can see images of the windmill that inspired the Dutch Village windmill by clicking here.

Dutch Village in Hillsdale, Oregon, ca. 1952. Photo by Art Raz

Dutch Village in Hillsdale, Oregon, ca. 1952. Photo by Art Raz

 

Dutch Village, Hillsdale, Oregon. Grand Opening September 15, 1929. Oregonian, September 15, 1929, sec. 6, p. 8.

Dutch Village, Hillsdale, Oregon. Grand Opening September 15, 1929. Oregonian, September 15, 1929, sec. 6, p. 8.

 

SERVICE STATION READY

HILLSDALE FILLING PLACE TO BE OPENED SHORTLY.

Popular Brands of Gasoline Will Be Kept on Tap and Also Supplies of Food.

Bob Johnson’s “Dutch Village” at Hillsdale will open for business Sunday, September l, with all buildings in the village occupied and. operating. The village will contain a complete super-service station, where four popular brands of gasoline will be supplied from five new pumps; two hydraulic hoists will be ready to lift cars for lubrication, washing and inspection. A complete mechanical service from light repairs to complete overhauling will be maintained.

In addition to the automobile departments, which will include Hudson-Essex sales and service, there will be a restaurant, lunch and fountain; a large drug store and a real estate office.

The “Dutch Village” is the answer to Mr. Johnson’s dream of something absolutely new and completely different from anything in · Portland.  The. plans and designs are an exact duplication of a Dutch windmill and architecture as taken from buildings at Zuidwolde, Holland, which have been worked out by Peter Van Bruggen, a Portland contractor who was born at Zuidwolde, where he lived for 21 years. Mr. Johnson plans to hold a grand opening on Sunday, September 8.

Sunday Oregonian, August 25, 1929.
Section 6, Page 2.

SERVICE STATION OPENS

DUTCH VILLAGE LOCATED AT HILLSDALE.

Windmill Towers 50 Feet Above Terwilliger Boulevard East of Bertha.

A little corner of old Holland wlll greet Portlanders who visit the grand opening of the “Dutch Village,” new super-service station of the Johnson Motor company, at Hillsdale today.  The station is located on Terwilliger boulevard, two blocks east of Bertha.

The huge Dutch windmill which towers 50 feet above the highway is an exact reproduction of a famed old mill in Zuldewolde, Holland, according to Peter J, Van Bruggen, a native of that town; who supervised construction of the new village, Old dutch· legends tell of a prophecy uttered many years ago by Stlentje, an insane old woman, said Mr. Van Bruggen.

As the story goes, Stlentje was jilted in her youth by the son of one Jan Mulder, whose family had built and had operated the ancient mill for generations. In her old age, she returned to voice a curse upon the family and trade of the Mulders.  This malediction, according to the legend, was worded thus:

“And I tell you, Jan Mulder – that there shall be a time when the wings of this mill shall no longer turn – and the carriages shall fly upon the highway road without horses – and men shall fly high above your mill like birds, and then, Jan Mulder, your shade and the shade of your cursed father shall haunt this mill in the night, for there shall be no rest for your spirit.”

Today the idle mill, still one of the largest in the Netherlands, has become a landmark, said Mr. Van Bruggen, and like its modern twin just built here on Terwilliger, automobiles spin by on a smooth highway, and great planes pass overhead.

A barbecue and cafe, drug store and fruit stand will be operated in connection with the service station.

Sunday Oregonian, September 15, 1929.
Section 6, Page 10

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