Wood Village

Date of visit: October 16, 2011
Population: 3,878 (2010 Census)

Wood Village is a former company town, built to house the workers who worked at Reynolds Metals, which operated an aluminum reduction plant. The plant was built by the government in 1941 to produce aluminum for the war effort, and Wood Village was established the following year. It was one of the first planned communities in Oregon and was constructed on 50 acres of farmland surrounding the Stephen Arata estate. It had single and multi-family housing (183 homes and 264 temporary apartments), streets, stores, a water system, a sewage treatment plant, street lights, and a community building.

The plant was purchased by Reynolds in 1949. It was one of three plants that Reynolds purchased in order to boost their production during the post-war building boom.
The plant shut down in 2000, a victim of falling aluminum prices and the increased use of plastic. Wood Village is now a small suburb tucked in-between Fairview and Troutdale.


Historic Shaw House, built in 1887 and now a nursing home


A path in Donald L. Robertson City Park


Arata Creek School


One of the old company houses

Map of Wood Village

Oregon Towns Project