Yugoslav House
by Norm Gholston
Portland, OR
Even having been born in 1962, February 17, 1959 was a date known to my siblings and myself as if it was one of our birthdays. My parents attended the Oregon Centennial Exposition the year they were married. My father, willing to buy just about anything if it was “a good deal”, at the end of the exposition purchased the building that housed the Yugoslavian exhibit for $100. The building is about 30 feet square. It of timber frame construction with hand-hewn posts and beams. It was constructed in Yugoslavia, taken apart and reassembled at the exposition grounds. It is held together with wooden pegs and is open to the air. For my brother and sisters and I it was a home away from home.(In the backyard) We slept there on warm summer nights and played in and around it all year round. My father and I have collected thousands of local photographs yet never have come across an image of the “Yugoslav House” at the Oregon Centennial Exposition. My father has since passed away and my mother is in her 70’s and the Yugoslav House has faded along with our childhoods. The accompanying image was taken Jan. 3 2009.
