The Charbonneau Villager
Page 19
October 2013
Pink Ball
travelers, conferences and
conventions.
There would be churches
plus an elementary school,
to be built on the present site of Edith Green
Park. Recreational amenities included the 27-hole
executive golf course, an
Olympic-size swimming
pool, tennis courts, a marina with moorage for 100
boats, man-made lakes
and meandering pathways
for bicycles and golf carts.
The golf course was
graded and ground was
broken in the late fall of
1971 for construction of
the ?rst units. By the end
of January 1972, 40 new
homes had been sold even
though they had yet to be
constructed.
Eight model units along
Boones Bend Road were
furnished and open for
inspection by September
1972. Sales jumped when
another 22 units were
pre-sold before the original
models were even built.
Prices started at $33,900,
but buyers had several
options in customized
upgrades to their homes,
such as room arrangements, size, colors and
materials. A large picture
window was added to the
two-car garage of one of the
model units to serve as the
original sales of?ce.
Charbonneau's ?rst residents were John and Dolores Wymatelek of Oak
Hills who, on December 1,
1972, moved into their new
residence, an Eldorado at
32211 SW Boones Bend
Road. It's now owned by
Zig Zakovics, who purchased the home in 2002.
Charbonneau was highpro?le, prompting realtors
beyond the perimeters of
the new development to
ride on its coattails. Ads
by other properties in
the real estate sections
of The Oregonian and Oregon Journal marketed
themselves as being “Near
Charbonneau.” A development a few miles south of
Charbonneau repeatedly
ran ads with the headline
“Only minutes from the
new $100 million Charbonneau city.” Those ads were
for a mobile home park.
But, the gasoline crisis
of 1973 hit Charbonneau
sales hard. Charbonneau installed a gas pump
near the end of Old Farm
Road in the hopes that it
would help alleviate the
concerns of potential residents. Charbonneau began advertising itself as a
self-suf?cient development
with resort-like living and
recreational amenities.
“Play where you live,” the
ad theme stated, just “18
miles from Portland.”
By the close of 1973, 100
family homes, priced up to
$80,000, had been sold.
Assessments ran from $30
to $50 a month. Eighteen
holes of the executive golf
course were playable, and
the Clubhouse, Pro Shop,
restaurant, lounge and
meeting facilities were in
full operation.
The agricultural land
that was originally the
Curry Donation Land
Claim, later to be sold to
Jonathan Wagner, was
being transformed into
an upscale community
like no other. Fred Wagner took possession years
after his Uncle Jonathan's
purchase when his aunts
sold him the land for “$10
and a promise to always
have love and affection” for
them, recalls his son, Dr.
David Wagner. But, back
in 1968, when the sale to
Willamette Factors took
place, it wasn't the Wagner
family who prospered.
Enter Marie Barnett
Cooper - a wealthy Eastern Oregon rancher who
had served as president
of the family-owned W.M.
Barnett Bank in Sherman
County since the age of 21.
A longtime Canby realtor friend of Fred Wagner
somehow knew Cooper and
brought the two together.
Cooper persuaded Wagner
to give her a lease option
to buy the 477 acres at
$1,000 an acre, and Wagner ?nally agreed.
“My mother was furious,” David, recalls. “She
was unforgiving until the
day she died. The farm
had treated us well, but
my Dad honored the agreement because he was a
man of his word.”
Cooper exercised her option to buy on the ?nal day
of the ?ve-year agreement.
She then sold the land
to Willamette Factors for
$3,000 an acre. The Wagners retained 2.33 acres,
the site of their family
home, now the pre-school
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