Orange Phelps
| Orange Phelps | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Mayor of Hillsboro, Oregon | |
|
In office January 2, 1929 – January 2, 1935 |
|
| Preceded by | Mason P. Cady |
| Succeeded by | John H. Garrett |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 24, 1886 Davis, California |
| Died | August 4, 1985 (aged 98) Forest Grove, Oregon |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse(s) | Ora Etta Whitmore |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater |
Hanover College Northwestern University |
| Profession | Businessman |
Orange Phelps (December 24, 1886 – August 4, 1985) was an American businessman and politician in the state of Oregon. A native of California, he attended colleges in the Midwest where he played baseball before moving to Oregon. Phelps settled near Portland in Hillsboro where he opened the first movie theater and later served as a mayor of that city and on the city council. He continued in the movie business until the 1970s and also opened the first drive-in theater in the county.
Phelps was born to Frederick and Alice C. Phelps on December 24, 1886, in Davis, California. Frederick had moved to the West Coast in 1866, where Orange’s mother was born, and the couple had four daughters and four sons. Orange grew up in Davis before attending college at Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana.
He then transferred to Northwestern University in the Chicago area where he played baseball. Following college he moved to Southern Oregon where he worked at the Granite Hill Mine near Grants Pass, and in 1906 Phelps moved north to Hillsboro, Oregon. In Hillsboro he first worked for the agency that became the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. In 1908 he entered the movie theater business. Phelps also played catcher for the semi-professional Hillsboro Cardinals for about twelve years, starting in 1909. On August 28, 1910, he married Ora Etta Whitmore, who died in 1974. They had two sons, John Vincent and Orange W. Phelps.
In Hillsboro he opened the Arcade Theater, a 108-seat movie house on East Main Street in Downtown Hillsboro in 1908. At that time he also worked as the booking agent for the Crescent Theater. The Arcade was Hillsboro’s first movie house. About 1910 he started showing movies in Shute Park in a large black tent each year on the Fourth of July. This venture proved profitable, so he traveled with his tent to the coastal community of Rockaway each summer. As the community did not yet have electricity, Phelps had to bring his own generators, and as such, he was known as the person to bring the first lights to Rockaway.
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