In 1914, a group of Volga Germans purchased the lot at NE 9th and Fremont, and built a church for their newly formed congregation. Services at the Zion German Congregational Church were held in German until 1958. Over time, the younger generations, who did not understand German, began to move away in search of newer housing and English-language church services. During the 1960s, the church merged with other dwindling Volga German congregations and in 1972, they sold the building and moved to a new facility in outer east Portland.

In 2009, the Greater Gresham Baptist Church purchased the old Zion church, with plans to renovate the building and "change the lives of the people in this community." As they noted, the old building is "within a 3-mile radius of 250,000 people, ninety-five percent of whom are not actively involved in a church." 

When the renovation did not progress as quickly as planned, Greater Gresham formed a partnership with Door of Hope, a church that was seeking to establish a ministry in inner northeast Portland. Door of Hope is currently renovating the church and plans to open for Christmas Eve services.

More details about the church history are available on volgagermans.net.

Interesting report from Al Jazeera America - watch the video here.

Starting Sunday, March 2, 2014, TriMet will bring back 15-minute service throughout the day on weekdays for it's Frequent Service lines, including line 8, which runs through Sabin. From Neil McFarlane, General Manager at TriMet:

"Thanks to an improving budget outlook, we are happy to begin restoring 15-minute service—which had been cut over the last few years due to the recession—starting with mid-day hours on weekdays... For riders, this means less waiting, shorter travel times and better connections. 

Before the recession, “Frequent Service” meant that buses and MAX came every 15 minutes or better throughout the day, every day. We had to temporarily reduce frequency on these and other lines due to budget shortfalls. Today, we are in a position to begin restoring service, due to increased revenue from advertising, and lower health insurance costs for non-union employees.

Restoring Frequent Service has been a top priority for me, and improving mid-day service is just the first step. It will probably take a few years to get back to 15-minute frequency all day, every day—meaning evenings and weekends, too—but that’s our goal."

Sign up for service alerts by email here.