Kelly Butte BOEC Dispatch

[Net-5]

Greetings:

I thought some of you old-timers out there might enjoy this.

Does anyone remember the old BOEC dispatch center at Kelly Butte, in Portland? The dispatch center began as a command and control bunker, built during the 1950's, to be used by city and county government in case of a nuclear war. The bunker was built on the north side (roughly) of Kelly Butte. After the cold war wound down and the bunker was no longer needed, BOEC took it over and transformed the bunker into an underground 911 center.

Also on Kelly Butte was a joint PPB/MCSO training facility. All police recruit training was conducted up there, during the 50's and 60's I believe, until Oregon established a statewide police academy. I think the training center was on the hill above BOEC? And that they had a range someplace up there, too. Can anybody confirm this? I don't think that any traces of it are left. MCSO also used the old Kelly Butte Jail complex/quarry area as a training facility after the jail moved to Rocky Butte. But the "new" I-205 freeway erased all traces of that facility. And the Rocky Butte Jail is also history now, too. It used to sit in what is now a vacant field, east of the MAX line and the I-205 bike path that passes Rocky Butte.

I no longer recall when BOEC moved into the bunker, but I believe they left in 1994 for their new (and present) home, near 92nd & Powell.

During the late 70's and early 80's, I used to visit BOEC at Kelly Butte. I had family friends who worked there, and I was able to sit in for a few shifts on the dispatch floor, and loved it. I have not been inside the place since.

After BOEC moved out, the city tried to sell the bunker but there were no takers. Vandals broke into the bunker numerous times and even set a fire inside, despite an alarm system being in place. A friend of mine (who was a new BOEC dispatcher at the time) was given an offical tour of the bunker in the mid-1990's. He told me that all the equipment was still in there, and even old district maps still hung on the walls! BOEC just walked away and left it all, as none of the old equipment would work with the new trunked system they had switched to.

My BOEC friend had since told me that the city completely gutted the place. But, not true.

It seems that some folks have found their way inside the bunker, and taken photos. Although the inside is trashed, it was by no means gutted. Instead, the place became something of a time capsule. A dispatch center from another era, preserved underground. My understanding is that the bunker has since been securely sealed-up since the photos (below) were taken.

Kelly Butte antenna, lower parking lot and bunker entrance during the 1950's.

Bunker entrance, 2008. The city had sealed up the entrance, emergency exit and air duct outlets with concrete, then piled up fill to completely block the place.

Dispatch floor, 2006. Entry had been gained via a hole hacked through a concrete sealed air duct in the lower portion of the roof (not pictured). Note all the equipment still present.

The weird mural that covered an entire wall, facing the dispatch floor. This thing would give me the creeps when I visited during the 70's/80's, as it was painted with roots that looked like they were coming through the wall! And it is even more surreal now, given that the bunker itself has become a ruin. Photo taken in 2006.

I think this was the DC's parking space. In 2006, the parking space sign was still there! And almost covered up with fill, dumped in the parking lot by the city.

If anybody has photos of Kelly Butte that they would like to share, or experiences and memories of the place - then please do! A nice walk down memory lane...

 

[icom1020]

do a search of a film called "A Day Called X" archive.org has it. The Bunker had various interior shots

 

[gmitch]

cyclotram: Spooky, Mysterious Kelly Butte
Some history and photos.

 

[mikepdx]

Does anyone remember the old BOEC dispatch center at Kelly Butte, in Portland? The dispatch center began as a command and control bunker, built during the 1950's, to be used by city and county government in case of a nuclear war. The bunker was built on the north side (roughly) of Kelly Butte. After the cold war wound down and the bunker was no longer needed, BOEC took it over and transformed the bunker into an underground 911 center.

Went on a visit in 1974-1975 - unscheduled -
went up to the door and pushed the button on the intercom and asked if we could see.
Someone came to the door and let us in and escorted us around. Yep, it was that easy in the 70s.
It was just after they opened the facility and not everything was up and running yet.
City had just went to their new UHF system.
County was still on 2 VHF channels. But they went UHF a short time after.
The ancient Motorola consoles for the Sheriff that were in the county courthouse in
downtown Portland were sitting on a table and still being used.
We were shown a very small temporary room. They showed us the main
area which was still under construction. I remember all of the floor panels pulled up
and that large room being wired.

BTW - Fire still wasn't dispatched from there at that time.
When you called 911 they transferred you to Portland Fire Alarm Telegraph on NE 21st at I-84
or to Multnomah County Fire District 10 Dispatch at the station near SE 122 & Mill St.

I still remember the emergency phone number if your phone prefix didn't have 911 service yet:
760-6911

Guess I am an old timer.
I've listened since PPB had only two VHF channels - that's it. Eastside/Westside.
Multnomah County had only two also. County and city didn't have each others channels.
Clackamas County Sheriff had F-1 only 155.43 (no F-2)
and OSP dispatched ALL of NW Oregon including Portland on a single low band frequency.

Easy monitoring...

 

[icom1020]

155.610 was MCSO I believe. I think they had a remote transmitter on Rocky Butte. The later MDT's were somewhere in the 155 mhz which may have been one of the old PPB channels. is the old Metro Net of 159.03 still active?

 

[mikepdx]

155.610 was MCSO I believe. I think they had a remote transmitter on Rocky Butte. The later MDT's were somewhere in the 155 mhz which may have been one of the old PPB channels. is the old Metro Net of 159.03 still active?

Yeah, you're right.
"KOA 282 Multnomah County Sheriff" (the dispatcher voice ID'd on the hour and half hour exactly that)
F-1 155.61 Rocky Butte
F-2 154.83 Council Crest
(but they could, and did, swap sites if a car couldn't copy)

There were control stations at Rocky Butte Jail (RBJ), Bonneville Dam, Gresham PD, Court House Jail (CHJ),
and one at the Operations Division Headquarters (ODH) at 12-Mile Corner 223 & Stark in Gresham.
My first ride-along was out of ODH (Patrol HQ). The building's still there. It's a used car lot now, I think.

Portland PD was
F-1 155.19 Westside
F-2 156.15 Eastside

I doubt the Metro Net is still in operation, but who knows.
There was also 460.500 Oregon State Sheriff's Net - long gone.

 

[icom1020]

I remember the big four beam blue light and the large siren horn on the car. Must of been loud. When did the Hansen Bldg come into play?

 

[KE7JFF]

I just love how the city just poured dirt on the main entrance like it was a sink hole. But good to see that concrete doesn't stop the people who really want to know whats inside.

Interesting to note, on the one floor diagram of when Kelly Butte was in Civil Defense operations, there is a room in the middle labeled "AMATEUR." Gee, I wonder who got put in there...

Now, I have heard one of the reasons that BOEC moved out of Kelly Butte was the fact the structure had "Sick Building Syndrome" which employees started to get sick left and right when they went into the building to work.

 

[mikepdx]

I remember the big four beam blue light and the large siren horn on the car. Must of been loud. When did the Hansen Bldg come into play?

It was loud. I recall a couple of times going to big car accidents as a spectator
and one of the units on scene would always have MCSO F-1 going out thru the PA speaker.
No scanner needed.

The earliest cars I can remember the MCSO using were 75-76 Pontiac LeMans like this one - UGLY!
Even uglier in MCSO green!
http://www.fortunecity.com/campus/graduate/109/gmold114.jpg

Not sure when the Hansen Bldg became what it is today.
I think it had always been a county building of some sort.
The old building at 223 & Stark was tiny.

 

[joescanner]

I still remember the emergency phone number if your phone prefix didn't have 911 service yet:
760-6911

that's still the 10-digit emergency number.

I have been doing a lot of research about the Kelly Butte site, I even went and pulled a (series of) files off of the wayback machine that the City of Portland originally had posted regarding the history of BOEC. (It was on my joescanner blog - which, since I decided to not renew the domain name, isn't accessible outside of my private LAN anymore, but I'll pull it out and post it if anyone's interested - or you can just find the original in the wayback archives).

All of these stories and additional information are great fodder.

I was very disappointed to see the state of the site a few months ago when I went up there for a bike ride. Seems a shame that the site was just "abandoned" - it could be an interesting place, if there was money to clean it up (and deal with the issues that were causing employees to become sick all the time...)

joe

 

[joescanner]

Up on a hill (cold war paranoia?) - JoeScannerBlog

it doesn't look really pretty, but the text is all there.

Did you know that 99th & Powell wasn't the preferred site for BOEC when they started construction? There was some effort put forth (reading city council minutes, etc.) to locate it in another "underground" structure at Powell Butte.

I'll have to dig up some of my notes. It was a great deal of fun (!) digging through historical archives and documents trying to piece together some of the history of BOEC.

ETA: The present-day dispatchers at BOEC do not occupy the dispatch floor in the photo on the "history" page linked to from above. A new dispatch floor was built on the opposite side of the building a couple of years ago with a little bit better ergonomics built in. I never got to see the Kelly Butte facility, for better or worse, but I have seen two different dispatch floors at BOEC, and I like the new one better than the old one.

 

[mh34444]

Kelly Butte Civil Defense Center
The Kelly Butte 9-1-1 Call Center

 

[Net-5]

Wow, mikepdx! I had forgotten all about the old MCSO radio room at the Courthouse. It was on the 8th Floor, at the NW corner. The room was soundproofed with what looked like drop ceiling tiles, and it looked a lot like a commercial radio station out of the 1950's. They may have even been dispatching on AM in some of those days, transmit only. The cars could not transmit, they could only receive. I've got a photo of that radio room someplace from that era, if I can find it I'll post it here. The DA's Office occupies that entire floor now, I think the Drug Unit (Unit B) is on that part of the 8th floor. No traces of the old radio room remain.

And they were still using some of the same old equipment from the Courthouse at Kelly Butte? OMG!!

PPB Radio was at 2nd & Oak, along with Central Precinct, Detectives, the City Jail, etc. I've been in that building a lot when it was still operational, and also the addition to it next door that I think has since been torn down. Now, this is another old building that I would have loved to have poked around in, before it was sold and taken over by civilians. I heard a story that during the remodel, that workers found some old badges that had been stashed in the walls someplace?? I dunno, sounds too good to be true. I remember the snack bar there, upstairs at 2 & Oak, called the "Food-o-Rama." So long ago, but almost seems like yesterday.

And I remember PFB dispatch, in that oddly shaped building @ 21st near I-84. I wonder if anything is left inside that place? It always seemed to be locked-up and forgotten whenever I'd pass by it. Maybe BOEC still uses it for part of the trunked system? I wonder.

I see you remember the old MCSO office at Twelve Mile, too! MCSO was out there for many years (MCSO had half of the building and fire had the other half, eventually fire moved out and MCSO had the whole thing), I think from the 40's (or even earlier) until they moved the LE side of things to the Hansen Bldg @ 122nd & Glisan, I think in the 70's (?). A few years ago, I went to the old MCSO place at Twelve Mile. It looked so tiny! Hard to believe that was the center of MCSO's operations for so long. There was a Plaid Pantry across the street, and the MCSO building was next to a car dealership. The building had been turned into a computer gaming business, and the owner knew of it's history. The massive holding cell was still there, but the heavy cell door had disappeared long ago.

Say, do you remember who you went on a ride-a-long with back then? Could it have been Loren C.?

When MCSO moved out of Twelve Mile to the Hansen Bldg, they trashed so much stuff! Uniforms, equipment, photographs, radio gear, all kinds of things. The LE operations captain in those days (Mel H.) just didn't care to hang on any of that stuff, which has since become irreplaceable. A shame.

Thanks for the memories!! Do you (or anyone else) care to share any? Meanwhile, if I can find my old photos I'll post them here. I think you'll enjoy them.

Went on a visit in 1974-1975 - unscheduled -
went up to the door and pushed the button on the intercom and asked if we could see.
Someone came to the door and let us in and escorted us around. Yep, it was that easy in the 70s.
It was just after they opened the facility and not everything was up and running yet.
City had just went to their new UHF system.
County was still on 2 VHF channels. But they went UHF a short time after.
The ancient Motorola consoles for the Sheriff that were in the county courthouse in
downtown Portland were sitting on a table and still being used.
We were shown a very small temporary room. They showed us the main
area which was still under construction. I remember all of the floor panels pulled up
and that large room being wired.

BTW - Fire still wasn't dispatched from there at that time.
When you called 911 they transferred you to Portland Fire Alarm Telegraph on NE 21st at I-84
or to Multnomah County Fire District 10 Dispatch at the station near SE 122 & Mill St.

I still remember the emergency phone number if your phone prefix didn't have 911 service yet:
760-6911

Guess I am an old timer.
I've listened since PPB had only two VHF channels - that's it. Eastside/Westside.
Multnomah County had only two also. County and city didn't have each others channels.
Clackamas County Sheriff had F-1 only 155.43 (no F-2)
and OSP dispatched ALL of NW Oregon including Portland on a single low band frequency.

Easy monitoring...

 

[Net-5]

Hi Joescanner:

Thanks for posting your information and links!! I love looking at that sort of stuff.

And the city wanting to locate dispatch at another underground location at Powell Butte? Now, that raises some interesting questions! I wonder if there is a bunker or some other underground structure up there? Hm mm.

And I think the Hansen Building started off as the Multnomah County Health Department. I think it has always been known as the Hansen Building from the beginning, I don't remember who "Hansen" was, though. I believe the place was built in the mid 1950's.

Here's a Hansen Building story from only a few years ago. I had an opportunity to visit Hansen Bldg regularly, and I went upstairs into what was an abandoned part of the building, with permission. This was also when Records wasn't there (they spent a few years at the Justice Center, until Records split and the LE end of it returned to the Hansen Bldg). So it had a really old, desolate and forgotten feeling about the place. Especially upstairs, musty and abandoned. The land that time forgot.

Junk and debris were were scattered everywhere, and a thick coat of dust covered much of it. I went into the tiny old interrogation room, and thought about all the suspects that had been in there over the years, and all the cases that had been solved there. I sat where the suspects would have, under a tiny, heavy wire meshed window and with a one way mirror taking up most of one wall. The walls were covered with thick, white soundproofing tiles that were dirty and had yellowed with age. And even all these years later, once could hardly even hear the passing traffic. All the better to keep the pressure up. And with the thick, heavy wooden door closed, the place was positively claustrophobic. The original table was still in the room, too.

There was also a treasure trove of old uniforms, photos and historical stuff up there, kept locked-up. There was even an old white MCSO motorcycle stunt team uniform inside, complete! And old uniforms with patches that read "Multnomah County Police." Never heard of MCSO going by that title before.

Keep posting more of this stuff, this is great!!!!

 

[Net-5]

Okay, here are a few photos. I have more old ones, if I can only find the disk!!

MCSO Radio Room, inside the Multnomah County Courthouse (I think - can anyone confirm this?). Anybody care to take a guess as to who the people are (standing)? I have no clue. Note part of the station call sign on the window.

1980's MCSO SIU: The tools of the trade.



So I'm wandering off topic, but what the heck. Any of you remember this guy??

(Photo provided to me by the person pictured)

Or this gentleman... ?

(Ditto)



More to come...

 

[KE7JFF]

While we are on the subject of the history of BOEC....

What was the timeline for when Portland Fire (maybe even all of Multonomah County) actually "tapped out" using the Gamewall system? Someone I talked to one in passing mentioned it might of went onto the early 70s and actually ran in parallel with radio dispatching.

 

[mikepdx]

MCSO Radio Room, inside the Multnomah County Courthouse (I think - can anyone confirm this?). Anybody care to take a guess as to who the people are (standing)? I have no clue. Note part of the station call sign on the window.

I'm going to look really hard for a copy of an annual informational booklet
I have that Multnomah County Government produced in the sixties.

In the section about the SO, it has a picture looking into that radio room from outside the glass window.
On the glass I KNOW it said KOA282. Undoubtedly much later than this photo though.
I recall the caption mentioning the 330 watt station on Rocky Butte.

In the booklet, here's also a great photo of a 60's MCSO patrol car on I-80N in the gorge in a blizzard.


I know who the two gentlemen in the more recent photos are:
One's our ex-Sheriff (he held that position for a few months, anyway).
He then rode that title all the way to Hollywood.
And the other was our friendly face of local law enforcement.
Also a somewhat well-known TV face.

Looking forward to more photos if you'd be kind enough to share.

 

[mikepdx]

While we are on the subject of the history of BOEC....

What was the timeline for when Portland Fire (maybe even all of Multonomah County) actually "tapped out" using the Gamewall system? Someone I talked to one in passing mentioned it might of went onto the early 70s and actually ran in parallel with radio dispatching.

You mean Gamewell?
They made a Fire Alarm telegraph system.

There were Red fire pull-boxes on power poles throughout
the City of Portland up until the late 70's or thereabouts.
None out in the county (east of I-205)
PFB maintained the boxes and the wires attached to the poles.

Break the glass and pull the lever and a code was transmitted to the Fire Dispatcher.
He had no clue the nature of the emergency, or exact address.
Just the location of the box that had been pulled.

It was mechanical at the dispatcher's end.
A machine was punching holes in a strip of paper showing the box number.
You'd hear chunk, chunk, chunk, clunk, clunk, clunk (my best description of what it sounded like)
in the background, sometimes almost drowning out the dispatcher's voice on the radio.

The dispatcher would call a "Phantom Box" over the radio at a particular location.
They'd send just one engine. A lot of false alarms as you would imagine.

Late 18th to early 20th century technology still used up until the advent of the microprocessor.

 

[icom1020]

Internet Archive: Free Download: Day Called X, A (Part I)

Good shots of the PPB dispatch room and Central Fire station, oh and CONELRAD at the beginning.

 

[Net-5]

I'm going to look really hard for a copy of an annual informational booklet
I have that Multnomah County Government produced in the sixties.

In the section about the SO, it has a picture looking into that radio room from outside the glass window.
On the glass I KNOW it said KOA282. Undoubtedly much later than this photo though.
I recall the caption mentioning the 330 watt station on Rocky Butte.

In the booklet, here's also a great photo of a 60's MCSO patrol car on I-80N in the gorge in a blizzard.


I know who the two gentlemen in the more recent photos are:
One's our ex-Sheriff (he held that position for a few months, anyway).
He then rode that title all the way to Hollywood.
And the other was our friendly face of local law enforcement.
Also a somewhat well-known TV face.

Looking forward to more photos if you'd be kind enough to share.

Say, I'd love to see the photos in the book you mentioned. Can you post them here? Meanwhile, I'm still hunting for the disk with many more old photos on it, mostly MCSO. I should have them up here tomorrow sometime (I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can find them!). And you are right on the money - the photos are John Bunnell and CW Jensen. John has a son who is an MCSO deputy, which is kinda neat. I've heard some pretty wild things about John Bunnell but sadly, I can't repeat them here. Meanwhile, CW was a TV reporter for KGW and real estate broker after leaving PPB. I don't know what he is up to these days...