Tom McCall Waterfront Park
Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park is a park located on the west bank of the Willamette River in downtown Portland, Oregon. It is 36.59 acres (148,100 m2), comprising 16 tax lots owned by the City of Portland.[1]
The name of the park was changed in 1984 to honor former Oregon Governor Tom McCall. It is currently home to the Waterfront Blues Festival, Oregon Brewers Festival, Gay/Lesbian Pride Festival and The Bite of Oregon Festival. The park is also the host of many Rose Festival events.
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[edit] History
In 1903 the Olmsted Report identified several needs for the City of Portland. Important items within the plan:
- need for parks within the city
- need for greenways along riverbanks
- need for preservation of river access for future generations
These needs were readdressed in the 1912 Bennett Plan, however, the City of Portland had its sights set on the city itself and not access to geographical features.
One problem for downtown Portland and its location by the Willamette was that the river would flood occasionally during the winter. In 1920, a seawall was built to protect the downtown core. Unfortunately, the seawall removed access to the river, a problem that would be exacerbated in 1940 with the construction of Harbor Drive along the bank of the river.
During the mid-1960s, the completion of the Marquam Bridge for Interstate 5 caused Harbor Drive to reduce traffic. The Waterfront for People, a humorous civil disobedience group, organized a picnic on the sliver of land between Harbor Drive and the river.[2] In 1968, Governor Tom McCall initiated a task force to study the feasibility of replacing Harbor Drive with open park space.[3] ZGF Architects LLP was hired in 1971 to design the park.[4] Removal of Harbor Drive began in 1974, and work progressed until the dedication of the park in 1978. The park gained instant popularity, and in 1984 it was renamed Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park.[3] Along with Harbor Drive, the Portland Public Market building also stood where Waterfront Park is now.
In 1978, the Francis Murnane Wharf, the only public memorial to a labor leader in the state of Oregon,[5] was dedicated in the Park by Harry Bridges, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. The memorial consisted of a bronze plaque and steps leading down to a floating dock on the Willamette River. Murnane was a leader of Portland ILWU Local 8 and a gadfly for historic preservation. In 2009, the plaque and steps were removed by the expansion of the Saturday Market.[6]
[edit] Park landmarks
[edit] Battleship Oregon Memorial
The USS Oregon was constructed in 1893. This memorial erected in 1956 honors this "Bulldog of the US Navy" and its heroic fight in many naval battles. Underneath the memorial lies a time capsule: Sealed on Independence Day, 1976, it will be unearthed and opened July 5, 2076.
[edit] Bill Naito Legacy Fountain
This interactive fountain is dedicated to the memory of Portland businessman Bill Naito.[7] It was opened in 2009 next to the Saturday Market Pavilion.[8]
[edit] Founders' Stone
This memorial honors William Pettygrove and Asa Lovejoy, who tossed a coin to determine the city's name. Had the outcome gone the other way, Portland would have been named after Boston, Massachusetts instead of Portland, Maine.[9]
[edit] Friendship Circle
The Friendship Circle at the north end of Waterfront Park was dedicated in 1990. It celebrates the sister city relationship between Portland and Sapporo, Japan. The Friendship Circle includes a pair of 20-foot stainless towers that generate electronic tones.
[edit] Japanese American Historical Plaza
This memorial was dedicated on August 3, 1990, in memory of Japanese immigrants and native-born U.S. citizens of Japanese descent who were deported to inland internment camps during World War II. The memorial includes artwork and sculpture that tells the story of Japanese people in the Pacific Northwest. There are one hundred ornamental cherry trees to the north of the plaza.
[edit] Police Memorial
The police memorial was constructed in 1993 at Southwest Jefferson adjacent to the Hawthorne Bridge. It is dedicated to Portland Police who have laid down their lives in the line of duty.
[edit] Rose Building
The Portland Rose Festival Foundation headquarters are located in a historic Northwest Modernist building designed by noted Portland architect John Yeon in 1948 to be the Portland Visitors Information Center.
[edit] Salmon Street Springs
This artistic and play fountain is extremely popular in the summer. It was dedicated in 1988 and recycles up to 4,924 US gallons (18,640 L) of water per minute[10] through as many as 137 jets.
[edit] Saturday Market Pavilion
A contemporary open-sided pavilion just north of the Bill Naito Legacy Fountain shelters Portland's Saturday Market on the weekends from March until December.
[edit] Sternwheeler Portland
A 1947 sternwheeler docked at Waterfront Park houses the Oregon Maritime Center and Museum.
[edit] Political significance
The park has also been used as a speaking place during U.S. Presidential campaigns in recent years. In the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election, an estimated 50,000 people gathered in the park to see John Kerry, and in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, an estimated 75,000 people (the largest gathering in the campaign) gathered to see Barack Obama.[11][12]
[edit] References
- ^ "Waterfront Park Master Plan" (PDF). Portland Parks & Recreation. pp. 9. http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/finder/index.cfm?action=ViewFile&PolPdfsID=328&/Waterfront%20Park%20Master%20Plan.pdf. Retrieved 2006-11-14.
- ^ Halprin, Lawrence; Anna Halprin (2009). Randy Gragg. ed. Where the revolution began. Washington, DC: Spacemaker Press. ISBN 9780982439210. OCLC 449857189.
- ^ a b "Waterfront Park". Portland Parks and Recreation. http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/finder/index.cfm?action=ViewPark&PropertyID=156. Retrieved 2006-11-14.
- ^ Mackenzie, Hilary (1988). The Portland Park Blocks: their origin and development (thesis). Seattle, Washington: University of Washington. OCLC 19841853.
- ^ Munk, Micheal (2007). The Portland Red Guide: Sites & Stories of Our Radical Past. Ooligan Press. p. 218.
- ^ Lacy, Rebecca (April 21, 2009). "Seeking to restore the memory of a Portland labor leader - Francis J. Murnane"The Oregonian. http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/seeking_to_restore_the_memory.html. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
- ^ Bill Naito Legacy Fountain a Beautiful Addition to the PWB Family Portland Water Bureau (with photograph). April 30, 2010. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
- ^ Haberman, Margaret (August 19, 2009). "Saturday Market fountain dedication kicks off celebration"The Oregonian. http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/08/saturday_market_fountain_dedic.html. Retrieved 2010-11-22.
- ^ McArthur, Lewis A.; Lewis L. McArthur (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (Seventh Edition ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. p. 778. ISBN 0-87595-277-1.
- ^ Bossand, Suzie (September 23, 1990). "What's Doing in; Portland, Ore."The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=travel&res=9C0CE1DC143AF930A1575AC0A966958260. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
- ^ Cole, Michelle et al (2008-05-19). "72,000 gather at Portland's Waterfront Park to see Obama". The Oregonian. http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1211169310143230.xml&coll=7. Retrieved 2010-02-14.
- ^ Rohter, Larry and Julie Bosman (2008-05-19). "Obama Draws Huge Crowd in Oregon as Clinton Courts Kentucky". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/us/politics/19campaign.html. Retrieved 2010-02-14.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tom McCall Waterfront Park |
- City of Portland: Tom McCall Waterfront Park
- Congress for the New Urbanism History of Harbor Drive
