Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Mill Ends Park


Mill Ends Park, the world's smallest city park, is inside the concrete, in the median strip of Naito Parkway at SW Taylor Street, along the Willamette River. The Oregon Journal building was between the park's location and the river until 1969. Portland is also the home of Forest Park, which at 4,600 acres is the largest park within a city in the United States. The photo above was taken in November 2007. The photos below are from 2000.


The plaque on the west side of Naito Parkway is bigger than the park itself. The text of the plaque:

"From his office on the second floor of the old Oregon Journal building, journalist Dick Gagen (1911-1969) periodically gazed down on the busy Front Avenue thoroughfare. It was his keen imagination that turned a utility pole hole, in the avenue's median strip at Taylor Street, into "Mill Ends Park." The Guiness Book of World Records lists it as the world's smallest park. It is twenty-four inches in diameter, and contains 452.16 square inches of land. In his "Mill Ends" column in the Oregon Journal, Fagan described a variety of events occurring in the park, which were presided over by Patrick O'Toole, head Leprechaun residing in the park. Weddings and other celebrations have taken place at Mill Ends, and on St. Patrick's Day, 1976, the site was dedicated as on official Park of the City of Portland."



No comments: