Portland ยท Northeast
McMenamins Kennedy School
A 1915 elementary school, closed in 1975, whose 57 guestrooms include former classrooms that keep their chalkboards and cloakrooms.
- Built
- 1915Built 1915 as John D. Kennedy Elementary School; guestrooms are former classrooms.
- Style
- Renaissance Revival
- Architect
- Floyd A. Naramore
- Type
- Inn
- Rooms
- 57
- Area
- Northeast
- Credentials
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places; Local landmark
The story
John Daniel Kennedy sold the land to the Portland School District in 1913, and the school opened in 1915. Declining enrollment closed it at the end of the 1974-75 school year, and it stood abandoned into the 1990s. McMenamins bought and renovated it into a hotel whose 57 guestrooms, some former classrooms, keep their original chalkboards and cloakrooms.
The ghost story
A Kennedy School bartender told National Geographic in 2012 that a girl shown in one of the old schoolhouse's paintings is said to haunt the building, and that one guest described seeing her sitting in a chair at the bar.
Source: www.nationalgeographic.com
Good to know
- Parking: on-site free
- Address: 5736 NE 33rd Avenue, Portland, OR 97211
Things to do
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Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.