The Alameda neighborhood was established on the 1859 land claim of William C. Bowering and his wife, Isabelle. The area became known as Gravelly Hill Road for a gravel pit at NE 33rd and Fremont. In 1909, the Alameda Land Company laid out the Alameda Park subdivision that was then annexed to the city of Portland. The development advertised an extremely broad exclusion in its printed brochure, declaring "no people of undesirable colors and kinds."[2]
The name comes from the Spanish word "alamo," meaning a poplar or cottonwood tree. "Alameda" means, precisely, a public walk or promenade lined with poplar trees, and, by extension, a street lined with trees, like the English word "parkway."
There is also an Alameda Street in the neighborhood, which is the subject of the Elliott Smith song "Alameda" on his Either/Or album.
^MacColl, E. Kimbark (1979). The Growth of a City: Power and Politics in Portland, Oregon 1915-1950. Portland, Oregon: The Georgian Press. ISBN0-9603408-1-5.