First Advisor

William Lang

Term of Graduation

Spring 2009

Date of Publication

6-9-2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.) in History

Department

History

Language

English

Subjects

Forest Park (Portland Or.), Land use, Urban beautification -- Oregon -- Portland

DOI

10.15760/etd.5874

Physical Description

1 online resource (2, 101 pages)

Abstract

Portland, Oregon, is steward to a 5,126 acre wilderness park called Forest Park. The park's size and proximity to downtown make it a dominate feature of Portland's skyline. Despite its urban location the park provides respite from city life with its seventy miles of trails, which wind through stands of Douglas fir, western red cedar, and western hemlock. Portland citizens enjoy this easy access to nature as well as the park's health and environmental benefits.

However, few people know of the park's history and how its journey toward parkhood reflects the changing values of Portland's citizens over time. Starting with the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, Portlanders used the wooded land for everything it was worth. It was logged, mined, farmed, sluiced, built upon, and drilled for oil. The hills were part of the growing city and were put to use to help Portland establish dominance in the Pacific Northwest as prominent shipping port.

As the City Beautiful Movement popularized urban beautification and planning in the early 1900s, people began to look at greenspace in a new way, appreciating it for the health and recreational opportunities it affords. This led to the first recommendation to establish a park in the wooded hills in 1903. However, Forest Park was not established until 1948 after the Committee of Fifty, acting on a City Club recommendation, rallied public and City support.

Why was there such a lengthy delay between the first recommendation and the park's establishment? What changed in 1948? This thesis explores Portland's early development of a park system and the changing views of land use nationally and locally. It follows the city's social, cultural, and economic growth, as well as the influence these factors had on park establishment. This thesis also studies the impact of World War II in Portland and identifies the war as the ultimate stimulus behind efforts to establish Forest Park.

Rights

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Comments

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Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/22686

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