Hodson House

533 NE Davis Street  |  Built 1895

The arrival of the railroad and success of McMinnville’s business district led to expanding residential
areas. The Hodson House stands among other early homes built during this rapid neighborhood growth.
In 1895, Orlando Orville Hodson, a skilled tinsmith and hardware merchant, constructed his new home
in Saylor’s Addition at the southwest corner of D and Buckeye streets (now NE Davis and NE Sixth).

Emigrating from Indiana, Orville arrived in Oregon in 1878. His father, Henry H. Hodson, arrived in
McMinnville in 1879 and purchased an existing hardware business. Orville joined him in 1880 and
eventually took over the business as sole owner in 1888 at age 30. Orville built a reputation for crafting
decorative cornices and other metal work on many downtown commercial buildings. He produced the
pieces in his shop, first housed in a wood-framed structure at the southeast corner of 3rd and C streets
(3rd and Cowls) and later from a brick structure aptly named the O. O. Hodson Building in the same
location. Hodson also served on the McMinnville Library Board that planned the Carnegie Library and
on the McMinnville Water and Light Commission.

Home to Hodson, his wife Martha, and their children, this house is a heavily ornamented example of the
Queen Anne style with Stick Style influences. The property remained in the Hodson family for many
decades after Orville’s death in 1935 and later became apartments.

As you pause before its ornamented façade, picture Orville Hodson shaping tin and hardware by day and
returning home to his family in this growing residential area with the Rogers and Dielschneider families
as neighbors close by. The Hodson House survives as a testament to the skilled craftsmen and
merchants who helped build McMinnville’s commercial and residential fabric in the late 19th century.

For images of the the property, and further details, check out the link below:

Historic Resources Inventory Documentation