Lake Grove is located West of Oswego Lake and East of Interstate 5. It includes a vibrant business district along Boones Ferry Rd with many shops, offices, and restaurants. The neighborhood was platted in 1912 and grew as a result of the Goodin Station train stop between Oswego and Tualatin. The old train station and market were long ago converted to a very charming residence and can still be found today. If I were trying to find a word to describe Lake Grove it would be “diverse”. There is just simply a very wide variety of housing and businesses in Lake Grove.
Housing is both modest and grand. On the modest end of the spectrum are condominiums starting at about $135,000 and single family homes starting at $289,900. On the grand end is a newly built home that is currently for sale for $1,790,000. That’s a pretty broad range of housing! Architectural styles include 1920’s bungalows, mid-century homes of the 1940’s and 1950’s, ranch-style homes from the 1960’s and 1970’s, and the more large-scale homes that became popular in the 1980’s and are still being built today.
With so much diversity Lake Grove has known for years that a plan was needed to be put in place to create some harmony. The Lake Grove Neighborhood Plan was adopted in 1998 to guide development of open spaces, historic and natural resources, economic development, housing, and transportation.
The look of the neighborhood is characterized by large stands of very tall fir trees. Much of the area has a woodsy feel to it. Most residential lots are large. Some parts of Lake Grove are actually not incorporated into the City of Lake Oswego, but are considered to be in Clackamas County. The pockets of unincorporated land enjoy Lake Oswego addresses and city services such as water and schools, but are served by the County Sheriff rather than Lake Oswego police.
The City of Lake Oswego has spent the last decade doing a major overhaul of its commercial districts. Millenium Plaza Park and the Village Center at the East end of town were completed through this revitalization effort several years ago and have been wildly successful. A similar effort is just beginning in Lake Grove. The Lake Grove Village Center Plan calls for improved pedestrian access and extensive landscaping improvements. It has been in the planning stage for several years with actual construction scheduled to begin soon.
By far one of the great advantages to living in Lake Grove is the easy access to I-5 North to downtown Portland or South to Salem, Hwy 217 West to Beaverton, and Hwy 205 East and North to Mt Hood and the Portland airport. There are two large shopping areas nearby: Washington Square and Bridgeport Village. It is just simply a very convenient place to live.
So if you like a neighborhood that is not a subdivision, where there is a mix of houses and house styles, where there are large lots and big trees, and where you have easy access to shopping, restaurants, and the Westside’s main highways, Lake Grove just may be the neighborhood for you.