History of the Astoria Underground and how it affected the city.

In December 1923 a fire broke out in the back of a hotel on the south side of what is now Marine between 11th and 12th ST. It burnt almost 17 city blocks of the commercial heart of Astoria. Much of the damage was because most of downtown was located on extended docks over the river. As a result the fire went under the roads and made the fire worse. As Astoria rebuilt they realized that they needed to fill in the area where downtown was located using a new concept called chair walls. They also at the same time ran tunnels along the center of the roads that allowed underground utilities and an expansive series of tunnels that literally connected all of the buildings in this area.  

As a result, over the next almost hundred years the history, Astoria became closely connected to the underground in many ways. In 2018 I was introduced to Jeff Daley an old Astoria resident who was raised in Astoria, graduating from Astoria High in the late 1960's. Jeff escaped and expanded his career as a cameraman for several national communications companies. He moved back to Astoria as he retired and along with many of his old cohorts has been an incredible source of fun experiences for Astoria. He rented the commercial area under the parking lot across the street from the Astoria Coffee House with a vision to incorporate his area adjacent to the underground as a way of creating an Underground Tour of Astoria. 

I agreed to do the research for many of the stories that he wanted to incorporate into this tour. Since my wife Annie and I are big walking tour fans and armature historians I focused on the rich history of the area, including stories about shanghaied sailors, the KKK and so much more of the unusual of a frontier town along a river. This was great fun and I learned so much cool stuff about our Astoria history. Ultimately, Jeff and I had different ideas about how to do historical tours so I went on to other areas of our local history. Jeff, with his entertainment focused approach, has expanded his Underground concept into a very entertaining tour using some of these stories in his current tour. He even has put a Air B&B rental in the middle of the tour area.

Below are several of the research pieces that we created that expands all of the crazy things that Astoria went through in its underground years.

Tom Smith September 9, 2021

Walking Tour of Astoria covering 9th through 14th streets between the Columbia River and Commercial Street above ground - In 2018 I was working with Jeff Daly on creating historical scripts to be used in his Underground Tours. Part of that was a second tour above ground to supplement the Underground Tour he was creating at the SE corner of 11th and Marine. All though it is not part of the the current Astoria Underground tours, I decided to convert it into a fun self guiding tour. It includes stories about the 1922 fire, the fun days of Crimps and the Shanghaied,  Jack the Cat and the Astoria Clowns and man hole covers. Tom Smith ...Click Here to read

Original Scripts for the Astoria Underground Tour - In 2018 some close friends introduced me to Jeff Daly (Click here for his Bio). After retiring as an owner of a television production company and working as a freelancer for a variety of companies, he returned to his childhood town of Astoria to retire and has become a beacon of fun stuff in Astoria. He had rented the underground level below the parking lot on the SE corner of 11th and Marine for many of his projects. He then decided to create an Astoria Underground Tour. Being an amateur historian, I started doing the background research and initial scripts for this new endeavor. I tend to follow more traditional walking tours like John Adams, who does the Ghost Tours up in Victoria BC and Jeff has a more entertainment approach so I ended up going on to other historical endeavors. However, I think some of the original Astoria Underground script that I worked on does have some fun history. So I thought it would be fun to publish it with some of the original pictures for you history buffs out there. It was a work in progress so you may find some incomplete areas ...Click Here to read

John Goodenberger's DOWNTOWN ASTORIA HISTORIC WALKING TOUR DOWNTOWN ASTORIA above ground - John Goodenberger, who is writing the definitive biography of the Flavel Family for the Clatsop County Historical Society, created this tour shortly after the downtown area became a national historical site in 1998. It explain much of the unique history of Astoria. Print it out as it is a great self guiding tour...Click Here to read

Astoria Clowns - One of my favorite stories about the underground was when the Astoria Clowns would go into the certain stores and come up when the clown car would pass, and they would come out of the outhouse they towed....Click Here to read

Astoria Fire - The Astoria fire of 1922 blazed through the city’s wooden downtown, eventually destroying as many as 30 blocks and leaving 2,500 homeless.....Click Here to read

Astoria's four Spexarth buildings - August G. Spexarth, Sr., was a prominent Astoria businessman in the late 1800s and early 1900s...Click Here to read

Chair Walls of the underground - Summary of Events: What you are looking at now is the sidewalk runs out and then it drops down 4 feet and drops out 4 Feet and drops down again and the chairs that you are seeing are the legs of these pillars that are coming down the support the backside of it to leave that side of open for our utilities run through for sewer, water, power and communications and so anyway out that is actually underneath the street the curb is just on the other side of that portion right there just about a foot out and then that’s underneath the street and then streets are usually filled with dredged spoils with sand and or dirt. There are some places that the tunnels go underneath the intersection like what you see to your left that ties into the chair wall on the other side....Click Here to read

FACT SHEET Astoria - Historical dates for downtown Astoria...Click Here to read

Getting Shipwrecked was luckiest Break of his life - For a moment the air was filled with screams and the water with blood. The sailors, clinging as best they could to the shattered lifeboat — which still floated, thanks to its air compartments — worked their way around the ship and let the breakers carry them toward the beach....Click Here to read

Irish Grandmother head of biggest family of Crimps - Bridget and her husband Peter moved to Astoria from Gloucester MA in 1878. She had 1 daughter and eight boys. Peter was a fisherman and a former saloon owner, and the family built a large home over the river close to the wharves. It was plenty big enough to house this large family as well as numerous transient sailors. They called the home the Grant House....Click Here to read

May Spexarth Miller memories of Underground - May’s father A. G. Spexarth was born in Prussia in 1848 and immigrated to the USA and after completing his studies in Portland moved to Astoria in 1874. He opened a general store in 1876. His store carried variety of items for this robust community, but he specialized in Guns and sewing machines and had a growing repair business....Click Here to read

Rascally sea-captain was like a 19th-century Han Solo - There was no reason why the U.S. Marshal should spend the night on board the Jenny Jones, the cramped, smelly little freight schooner he was in charge of. After all, the ship was anchored in a semi-civilized town — Steilacoom, in the Washington territory — and there were several decent hotels there. The next day he’d have a few hours’ cruise to Seattle, where the ship would be sold to pay the debts of its owner, Captain James “Jemmy” Jones....Click Here to read

RAT WARS: IN ASTORIA, RODENTS GO WITH THE TERRITORY - It is absolutely a fact that when a rat charges down a city tunnel at you it is the size of a buffalo. Why else would you flail around with your flashlight like a beam of light will protect you? You didn’t even know your voice could go so high....Click Here to read

Riding the Rails to Seaside - 1858 Oregon Territorial Legislature granted a charter for railroad from Astoria to Eugene, but attempt failed...Click Here to read

The Mole Gangs - In the early 60’s and although most merchants had blocked entrance to their basements kids, who were smaller snuck into stores stealing candy and moving furniture, equipment and even cars in a joyful fun time. Soon the police caught up with the miscreants and they were firmly punished by their parents. However, they found that they were not the first or last. These tunnels were used by many of their own parents and later by several homeless and less savory individuals....Click Here to read