Jennings Lodge, a lost Evangelical retreat center
Jennings Lodge Camp (1904-2013)
18121 SE River Rd.
Oak Grove, Oregon 97267
Did you know that Oak Grove, a big unincorporated area of Clackamas County between Gladstone and Milwaukie, was once home to one of the largest Christian retreat centers, where tent revivals were held often, and people came to hear the Word of God from near and far?
The tradition of "camp meetings" was a staple of the rural United States. A forerunner to the modern multi-day Christian retreats and festivals, people traveled to a camp meeting, stayed in tents or cottages (depending on one's budget and availability of accommodations), and filled their days with worship music, Bible teachings, fervent preaching and prayers, and fellowship. The believers arrived at the Jennings Lodge Camp by the interurban trains, which had its station roughly a quarter mile from the camp's entrance (now the interurban line lived on as the Trolley Trail). At its peak in the 1950s, the Camp attracted up to 2,500 attendees to its camp meeting. As culture shifted, the Jennings Lodge Camp began to decline in the 1980s and 1990s, and as it entered the 21st century, the regional conference of the Evangelical Church made several attempts to divest itself of the increasingly expensive-to-maintain property. Towards the end of the Camp's life, it supplemented its income by renting out the facilities to scouting groups (such as the Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts USA, and Camp Fire) and renting out houses for residential use.
The Jennings Lodge Camp was owned by the Evangelical Church (an actual denomination called the Evangelical Church, which is Wesleyan-Holiness in theological orientation, not the generic "Evangelical" church). The denomination itself was founded in Portland, Oregon, in 1968, and was headquartered at Jennings Lodge. This was also where the Western Evangelical Seminary was founded (in 1947) and is situated. Today, the seminary is part of George Fox University and is located in the Tigard Triangle area under the name of Portland Seminary.
The 16.8-acre retreat center closed in 2013, and the denominational office moved to a building near Clackamas Town Center.
The last remaining building of the retreat center was demolished in 2018. Today, the only vestige of the Jennings Lodge is the street name sign that reads "SE Faith Ave.," which was one of several roads that ran through the camp (in a biblical theme, such as Hope Street and Grace Way). All of the buildings were demolished, and the land was sold to a Florida-based developer, Lennar Corporation, to build boring-looking 72 McMansions, although the local residents wanted the former Christian retreat center to be redeveloped into a North Clackamas Parks and Recreation District park. Then-county commissioners Martha Schrader and Paul Savas supported the idea, but it was ultimately voted down due to the potential financial commitment to purchase the land and to redevelop it, for which the county simply did not have the money. The neighborhood group, Jennings Lodge CPO, fought the loss of 326 trees (mostly old Douglas fir trees) as Lennar sought to subdivide the land into 8,500-square-foot lots for a dense suburban development.
The Museum of the Oregon Territory in Oregon City is now hosting a special exhibit, "Jennings Lodge Camp: A Gathering Place for Faith, Family, and Revival." If you have a valid library card in any of the public libraries in Clackamas County, you can get a free ticket through the Cultural Pass Express. A digital version of this exhibit is also available.
Aside from the Jennings Lodge Camp, Clackamas County also had two other camp meetings, the Oak Grove Camp Meeting and the Canby Grove Camp Meeting. Only Canby Grove still operates to this day.
Notes:
- Bentley, EM. (2015). History should inform Jennings Lodge development. The Clackamas Review (2015, Apr. 15).
- Clackamas County Historical Society (2025). Jennings Lodge Exhibit. clackamashistory.org. https://clackamashistory.org/jenningslodge/exhibit/start
- Harbarger, M. (2013). Jennings Lodge residents want county to build a park. The Oregonian (2013, Oct. 9).
- Mayes, S. (2015). Neighbors fight loss of trees for subdivision. The Oregonian (2015, Oct. 2).
- Oak Lodge History Detectives (n.d.). Camp meetings in Oak Grove! Oak Lodge History Detectives. https://oaklodgehistory.org/2015/03/31/camp-meetings-in-oak-grove/.
- Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (n.d.). Site information. Oregon Historic Sites Database. https://heritagedata.prd.state.or.us/historic/index.cfm?do=v.dsp_siteSummary&resultDisplay=677213
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