Pepper House

The Northeast Portland home of Kaw / Muscogee Creek musician and composer Jim Pepper (1941-92) was added to the National Register of Historical Places yesterday.

The house is the third property in East Portland to receive National Register designation and one of the first properties in the Pacific Northwest to be listed specifically for contemporary Indigenous history.

Jim Pepper was born in 1941, in Salem and died in 1992, in Portland at the age of 50.  Pepper was a jazz saxophonist, with a lengthy career in jazz, recording almost a dozen albums as a bandleader and many more as featured soloist.

The nomination of Pepper’s home focused on the musician’s life and legacy, but also of the achievements of Pepper’s parents Floy and Gilbert, who were both significant in their own right. Not only did Pepper spend much of his childhood in the Parkrose house, as an adult he regularly returned to the home for band practice and composed several of the tracks on Pepper’s Pow Wow in the house’s living room.

The Jim Pepper Native Arts Council (https://www.jimpepperfest.net/), a Native American-led 501c3 charitable organization celebrating and exploring the legacy of the great Kaw/Creek musician Jim Pepper celebrated the addition of the Pepper Home to the National Register of Historical Places.   Sean Cruz, who founded the Council and was involved in the application process to the National Register of Historical Places also lives in the house.

Cruz posted yesterday a photo and comment to his Facebook Page “U.S Congressman Earl Blumenauer, Portland City Commissioner Carmen Rubio, Jim Pepper Council Vice Chair Aurolyn Stwyer and I celebrated the moment. I promised Jim’s mom Floy Pepper that I would do all I could to see that her son got the recognition he deserves and this is a major milestone on that path. I am grateful to so many, and for the love and trust of the Pepper family in particular….”