The Burnside Bridge and the kollapse of the KKK in Oregon
KORRUPTION – One hundred years ago in Oregon, the Invisible Empire of the Ku Klux Klan was in a death spiral due to greed. Efforts to steal half a million dollars from Multnomah County taxpayers had failed. Fortunately.
Saturday May 30, 2026.
A century-old scandal, said to have ended the political dominance of the Ku Klux Klan in Oregon, was centered on the Burnside Bridge, which turned 100 with a proper birthday celebration Sat. May 30. Once the home to more Klansmen than any other state west of the Mississippi, Oregon had seen enough of the Invisible Empire by 1926. In 1924, Portland voters recalled all three KKK-backed members of the Multnomah County Commission over bid-rigging charges for the contract to build the clebrated (literally) bridge. Support from the Imperial Wizard and his minions got two of the Commissioners elected. Their greed got them thrown out of office. Though notions of white supremacy would endure, after that forgotten scandal the KKK would never be as powerful in Oregon.
All caps headline in the Portland Telegram August 1921 - CHIEF KLUXERS TELL LAW ENFORCEENT OFFICERS JUST WHAT MYSTIC ORGANIZATION PROPOSES TO DO IN CITY OF PORTLAND.
How dominant was the KKK in Oregon politics? In 1922, Walter Pierce was elected Governor on the strength of its suport. Klan-backed candidates won a majority of seats in the Legislature. The Speaker of the House was K.K. Kubli, a member of Portland's Klan No. 1. (His membership was free thanks to the initials.)In Multnomah County, 12 of 13 Klan-endorsed candidates were nominated in the May primary. But the big koup for the Klan was getting two of their friends elected to the Multnomah County Commission, which oversaw building the new Burnside Bridge. The voters had overwhelmingly approved a bond measure in 1922.
By the numbers: It's estimated there were 50,000 "Kluxers" in Oregon, with 35,000 of them in Portland by 1924. At a ceremony in what is now Keller Auditorium in April 1922, 2,000 new members of the Invisible Empire were inducted publicly.
Follow the money
The Klan plan was simple. Those two pliant Multnomah County Commissioners they got elected would rig the bidding process so a Klan-aligned construction consortium would win the bridge contract while charging $500,000 ($107 million in 2026 dollars) more than what the local firm would charge. The Commissioners thought they cold get away with their scheme by opening and closing bidding so fast that only the Klan bid would be accepted.
What could possibly go wrong? Arguably, the real victims here were the voters of Multnomah County, who easily approved the $6 million dollar bridge bond measure. (That would be $106 million in 2026 dollars. The average worker in Portland made roughly $100 a month in 1922.) But the ones who raised hell about the bid were members of the Portland establishment.
After the contract with a KKK-backed construction consoritum was yanked, the Pacific Bridge Company, which built the original Burnside Bridge in 1887, built the new bridge being celebrated in 2026.
Revenge of the ruling class
No one raised a bigger stink about the Klan-sanctioned scheme than the head of the Pacific Bridge Company, Charles F. Swigert, whose firm had submitted a significantly lower bid. Mover. Shaker. Builder. Swigert checked all the boxes: Member of the Waverly Club, Arlington Club, City Club, Chamber of Commerce and a Freemason to boot. He rallied non-Klan politicians, convinced local newspapers to criticize the Klan’s bridge contract, backed the recall election and supported a new slate of Commissioners. The contract to build the Burnside Bridge was taken away from the KKK-formed consortium headed by a crooked Arkansas engineer and granted to Swigert’s firm. As Jake Berman wrote in Lost Subways of North America, In July (1924), the contract was awarded to the Pacific Bridge Company, and demolition of the old bridge began. The new Burnside Bridge was dedicated on May 28, 1926. Portland Mayor George L. Baker (1868-1941) and Oregon Governor Walter M. Pierce (1861-1954) attended the dedication. As of 2022, the bridge was still operational.
Forgotten but not gone
With its failed efforts to fleece Multnomah County taxpayers, the Ku Klux Klan had worn out its welcome.. Even though the hand-picked Multnomah County Commissioners were thrown out of office and indicted, no one was ever convicted. By 1926 the Invisible Empire almost was in Oregon.. Was it civic embarrassment that sent the Klan chapters in Oregon packing? To this day citizens can't believe that a crew of Klan-connected cronies practically ran Portland fr a while. Then they tried to sell us a bridge. But the Knights of the Invisible Empire misfired when they messed with the wrong Portland oligarchs.
Artist rendering of the future Burnside Bridge. (Multnomah County)
We'll cross that bridge when we get to it
Called the Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge Project, the rebuilding of the Burnside Bridge is in limbo. Multnomah County says it “will again push out the start of construction in light of ongoing uncertainty around the availability of federal funds. Previously the County announced construction would start in 2028; a new date has not yet been determined.” It’s reported that what once would have cost $895 million would now cost $1.6 to 1.8 billion.
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