---
title: 'Tech helps tell the Vanport story through the voices of those who lived there'
date: '2023-12-08T07:23:21-08:00'
type: post
word_count: 231
char_count: 1527
tokens: 301
categories:
  - Portland
---

# Tech helps tell the Vanport story through the voices of those who lived there

If you live in the Portland area and don’t know about [Vanport](https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/vanport/), you should. Once the second largest — and most diverse — city in Oregon and the nation’s largest wartime housing development, Vanport only existed about six years, less than 100 years ago. It was destroyed by a flood and never rebuilt. Now, a little bit of tech is being used to [tell the stories of that community through the voices of the people who lived there](https://vanportplaces.org/audio/).

> Our Vanport history audioboxes have been installed in Portland! These solar-powered freestanding audio exhibits provide information and stories about Vanport in the voices of its original residents, featuring clips from new and archival interviews.
> 
> Listen to our audioboxes in [**downtown Portland** outside Lincoln Hall](https://goo.gl/maps/B7XciMRuDPDFagnV8) (PSU campus) and at [**Force Lake** (NE Portland, at the historic location of Vanport)](https://goo.gl/maps/zhYaKRVzVEawybAZ8). These audioboxes are **wheelchair accessible** and accessible to those who are **blind or have low vision**, with Braille labels and adjustable volume control.

Don’t have time to make it to a box location? You can also [access the Vanport audio stories online](https://vanportplaces.org/audio/).

For more on the boxes, visit [PDX Today](https://pdxtoday.6amcity.com/city/vanports-history-told-by-two-new-audioboxes-in-portland).