It is approximately bounded by the Willamette River on the west, Interstate 405 and the Kerby Avenue approach to the Fremont Bridge on the northwest, NE Fremont Street on the north, NE 7th Avenue on the east, and NE/N Broadway on the south.

The neighborhood contains the old center of the former City of Albina before it was annexed by Portland in the late 19th century.

The building was completed in 1914 as the meeting place for the local members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

During the hospital's 1972 expansion, 300 homes and businesses were razed, displacing Black families that had lived in the area since the founding of Albina.

Those families and their descendants formed the Emanuel Displaced Persons Association and its successor organization, EDPA2.