Russell

The Russell neighborhood takes its name from Edwin Russell, one of the three founders who platted the Town of Albina in 1872. Streets throughout the area bear the names of those early founders — Russell, Williams, and Page — reflecting the neighborhood's deep roots as the commercial center of what was once an independent city before Portland's annexation in 1891. The N Williams and N Russell intersection became known as the "Hill Block" — for more than half a century the historic commercial heart of Portland's Black community.

Williams Avenue emerged as the cultural and commercial backbone of Portland's African American life, with businesses like Paul's Cocktails, the Cotton Club, the Williams Avenue YWCA, barber shops, and jazz clubs creating a vibrant community corridor. This legacy was systematically dismantled beginning in the 1960s when Emanuel Hospital expansion and urban renewal projects forcibly displaced over 171 families — 74% of them Black — demolishing more than 300 homes and businesses. The resistance led by Mrs. Leo Warren and the Emanuel Displaced Persons Association became a defining chapter in Portland civil rights history.

The Williams & Russell Community Development Corporation (CDC), formed in 2021, is leading an ambitious restorative development at the historic Hill Block site — a 1.7-acre mixed-use project that broke ground in 2025. The project explicitly aims to honor the neighborhood's Black history, provide affordable housing, and support returning families and businesses. Today Russell is a small, predominantly residential neighborhood with deep civic significance and an active community working to reclaim its legacy.