What's Here Now? Mississippi Avenue is the historic main street of a unique, diverse neighborhood. In a small corner of Portland, five blocks of shops, industrial businesses and homes serve a variety of people and their needs. One-of-a-kind retailers, restaurants, employment opportunities and centers of learning, worship, and community enrichment await your discovery. We invite you to stroll down the avenue and enjoy the sights, sounds, surprises, and people of Mississippi.

The profound physical and cultural changes of the past have produced the rich and stimulating mix of retailers, manufacturers, community services and housing on Mississippi Avenue today. First home to Clackamas Indians, the area was settled in the mid 1800s by shipyard workers and their families from Germany, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. By the turn of the century, two streetcar lines crossed at the intersection of Mississippi and Shaver, providing local residents with a main street that offered goods, services, entertainment and jobs. Later, African Americans displaced by the 1948 Vanport flood were segregated to the area, where they subsequently created a rich tapestry of life and culture. Postwar relocation programs resulted in the area becoming home, once again, to northwest Native Americans. Other federal programs brought an increasing number of light-industrial activities to Mississippi, while recent revitalization efforts have preserved the avenue's distinctive historic character. Today, the neighborhood surrounding Mississippi Avenue is the most diverse in the state.