Guilds Lake

Guilds Lake (pronounced so "guild" rhymes with "mild") is a lowland on the former site of a lake in Northwest Industrial Portland, where Balch Creek flows into the Williamette River.

Around 1870 the area was the location for sawmills, shipping docks, and the city's incinerator. The 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition was built here, but left no permanent structures.

There are no schools or parks in the adjacent Northwest Industrial neighborhood, which has the smallest population of all 95 neighborhoods in Portland. Since 2001 almost all of the neighborhood has been designated the Guild's Lake Industrial Sanctuary, to preserve the land for long-term industrial use and to resist pressure for residential development.