The View-Master is a popular toy that uses cardboard discs inserted into a viewing machine to create 3-D images. First introduced in 1939 with the advent of Kodachrome color film, the viewer was extremely popular from the mid century and continues thru present day.

The View-Master was invented by William Gruber, an organ maker and avid photographer in Portland, Oregon. He had the idea to use the old idea of the stereoscope and update it with the new Kodachrome color film that had just hit the market. A chance meeting with Harold Graves, the president of Sawyer's, Inc. (a company that specialized in picture post cards) got the idea off the ground and quickly took over the postcard business at Sawyer's. The first reel was produced in 1939, and made it's debut at the World's Fair in New York the same year. View-Master is now part of Fisher-Price, who took over in 1997 after Tyco Toys, which had owned it since 1989, merged with Fisher-Price parent Mattel. For many years, prior to being sold-off, View-Master was located in Tigard off Hall Blvd.

View-Master Factory in  Beaverton 1958

Site Address: 8585 SW Hall Blvd, Beaverton Oregon 97076 (defunct)
New Site Address: 8725 SW Cascade Ave, Beaverton Oregon 97008

The View-Master company began as Sawyer's Photo Company, owned by Philip Mayer. He soon became partners with William Gruber and Harold Graves. Originally located on SW 20th Place in downtown Portland, the company began expanding operations.  In 1950, Sawyer's View-Master purchased 52 acres on Hall Blvd in Progress, Oregon (now Beaverton), Over the next year, a manufacturing plant was built that included 12 buildings and a large, signature water tower.  During the construction phase of the facility in 1950, a 160-foot deep well was drilled to supply water for drinking, sanitation, fire suppression and industrial use. Manufacturing of the View-Master began in 1951. In addition to View-Master viewers, the plant at one time turned out photographic equipment, 33 different types of slide projectors, and other products. Specific operations included preparing metal parts (metal stamping, cleaning, and painting), creating plastic parts by injection molding, lens grinding, assembly, photographic production, and printing of packaging and reels.  At peak production (1966), View-Master employed 2000 people at the plant. During the production process a chemical called trichloroethylene (CTE) was used and dumped on the grounds behind the factory. This was legal at the time. This dumping contaminated the well and the drinking water  and caused exposure to approximately 13,700 workers who drank the water containing CTE. CTE is a known carcinogen to humans and this exposure caused some health problems for some of the workers who worked at the plant for long periods of time (approx 1000 workers).  There was initial concern about increased cancer for those exposed but so far, no increase in cancer has been noted in the exposed workers. The site is now safe and a shopping mall has been constructed and is supplied by city water.

From the beginning of operations in 1951, a chemical known as trichloroethylene (TCE) had been used at the View-Master factory for cleaning manufacturing equipment and for degreasing metal parts prior to painting. Drums of degreaser waste were dumped on-site from the 1950s to the 1970s. The factory began recycling the spent solvent in the 1970s and discontinued the large-scale use of TCE in 1980 (1). Based on examination of the site's hydrology, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) has estimated that TCE was present in the View-Master plant supply well for more than 20 years (2). Soon after this contamination was discovered, the View-Master supply well was shut down. The well therefore does not currently pose a public health hazard.

TCE has been classified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a probable human carcinogen (3), and it has been implicated in a variety of noncancerous adverse health outcomes as well. The contamination at the View-Master plant has been covered extensively in local news media, and former workers and their families have raised concerns about cases of cancer and birth defects. In response to these concerns, Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) entered into a cooperative agreement to determine both the need for, and the feasibility of, an epidemiological study.

As part of this cooperative agreement, ODHS conducted a preliminary mortality analysis. The results of this analysis indicate higher than expected percentages of deaths from pancreatic and kidney cancers and lower than expected levels for liver and lympho/hematopoetic cancers among the factory's former employees. Although the analysis was limited by the lack of complete data–including the lack of exposure information–the initial findings suggest the need to fully investigate the public health impact of TCE exposure at the View-Master site.

ODHS has compiled the results of the initial investigation within this report. The report also contains an evaluation of the public health significance of the TCE contamination in the View-Master factory supply well. On the basis of the levels of TCE found in the supply well, the past use of the well as a source of drinking water, and the potential for adverse health effects resulting from past exposure to TCE, ODHS determined that the site posed a public health hazard to people who worked at or visited the plant prior to the discovery of the contamination.

Time Line of View-Master 

1938 Portland piano tuner and amateur photographer William Gruber stumbles into industrialist Harold Graves while Graves is trying to photograph some deer near the Oregon Caves. The two men end up discussing a new way of mounting stereo film onto circular reels, and the View-Master is born. The first View-Masters are made at Graves' firm, Sawyer's, a Portland photofinishing company and postcard maker.

1950 Sawyer's builds a factory on the Hall Street site. Water is supplied
by a 160-foot well, located on facility grounds, which feeds a 100,000-gallon water tower.

1951 Operations begin at the Sawyer's factory. TCE is used for cleaning and degreasing metal parts, mainly components of View-Masters, cameras and slide projectors. At first, TCE consumption is minimal--just 10 gallons used between 1952 and 1955.

1967 Sawyer's is bought by GAF Corporation.

1979
GAF sells vacant parcels of land at Hall Street to developers.

1980
TCE use at Hall Street reaches 200 gallons a month. But in June GAF decides to phase out its production of camera and slide projectors and stops using TCE altogether.

June 1981
GAF sells the operation to View-Master International Group, Inc.

1983
View-Master sells remaining land to developers but leases back seven acres containing factory.
1985
View-Master sells 45 acres  for commercial development

1988
Hall Street diversifies into Magna Doodles and Erector sets.

June 1989
View-Master is bought by Tyco, Inc.

1990
State adopts new rules for federal Safe Drinking Water Act, requiring large water systems to test for volatile chemicals like TCE.

1991 Smaller water systems are required to test for TCE under state regulations. Hall Street water is never tested.

March 1997 Mattel, Inc. acquires Tyco. Within months, Mattel announces plans to lay off more than 400 employees--many of them immigrants--but maintains a skeleton crew of 60 workers to make View-Master reels.

March 25, 1998 Tests reveal high concentrations of TCE--up to 1,600 parts per billion--in the facility's on-site well. Mattel shuts down well and switches to municipal water supply.

March 28-29, 1998 Some 27,000 gallons of contaminated water at the facility are flushed out and disposed of as hazardous waste.

March 31, 1998 Mattel enters into a voluntary clean-up program with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

April 1998 Mattel embarks on a massive outreach program to warn current and former workers of potential health hazards.

Oct. 26, 1998 Engineers drill sample wells to test for contamination in groundwater. TCE is detected at concentrations of up to 18,700 parts per billion.

Nov. 9, 1998 DEQ, Mattel and GAF enter into an official agreement to conduct a formal investigation of the property and to clean up the contamination.

December 1998 Mattel agrees to pay a $20,000 fine for failing to test for TCE.

Jan. 2, 1999 Mattel takes out a quarter-page ad in The Oregonian warning former Hall Street plant employees that they may have been exposed to TCE.
2000 View-Master stops operations at plant
2001 View-Master operations moved to Tijuana, Mexico
2004 CTE levels return to normal at plant site
2005 Plant torn down and shopping center built