A New Element in the Lincoln Statue Dispute

 

A potential legal threat landed on the desk of Portland Mayor Keith Wilson just days before the city attempts on Sept. 8 to justify its proposed demotion of the Abraham Lincoln statue from its historic pedestal in the South Park Blocks.

 A letter from Portland attorney Carrie Richer, who concentrates on land use and historic preservation matters, says moving Lincoln to ground level could violate state and city regulations concerning protection of historic properties.

 “Installing the restored Lincoln statue separate from, and below, its original base will directly violate its statutory obligation to ‘conserve the property’ and ‘assure that such property shall not substantially altered.’ Whether these actions are intentional or based on willful ignorance, the fact remains that the City’s practice with respect to monuments going back to the Thompson Elk Fountain, has been nothing short of a disgrace.  The City’s clear conservation obligation is to restore the sculpture atop its historic base, where it has peacefully kept watch over Lincoln Square in the Portland South Park Blocks for nearly 100 years.”

Richter’s clients are preservation advocates William J. and Kit Hawkins and Aubrey Russell.  All three played key roles in convincing the to restore and return the David P. Thompson elk statue and fountain to its historic location earlier this year.

Richter wrote, “Both state and local regulations require the City to prioritize conservation of its historic properties over unsupported claims of public preference. The public, including numerous historic architects, preservationists, and stakeholders, has tried tirelessly to engage with City staff and have been stonewalled in those efforts.

“The public is desperate for a forum where alternatives to demolition can be discussed and where public opinion can be made known. Please instruct your respective bureaus not only to comply with state law and local preservation program requirements, but also to be transparent and forthcoming about their intentions with respect to the protection of historic resources.

The city Office of Arts and Culture has scheduled a public meeting from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sept 8 at the Mark Building, 1119 SW Park Ave. to discuss the statue's placement.  It is not clear how much time will be available for public comment.

Richter noted that returning the statue to its pedestal does not eliminate any changes.  “For example, additional interpretive signage could provide greater historic context, offering a more complete picture of Abraham Lincoln’s life and of the social protests that led to Lincoln’s toppling in 2020.”

The letter does not include any legal threat, but invocation of the city and state preservation rules suggest that judicial review could be possible if the city persists in make a mistake.

---Fred Leeson

 No AI is used in creation of this blog. You can join Building on History’s email list by writing “add me” to faroverpar463@gmail.com

Abe Lincoln's next chapter

Amid the many expensive challenges facing the Portland City Council these days, one problem has a quick, easy solution: Put the Abe Lincoln statue back on its original pedestal in the South Park Blocks.

Alas, the city’s Office of Arts and Culture wants to reduce Lincoln to ground level for reasons it reached after largely isolated meetings with special-interest groups dating to 2024.  The general public has never been invited to express its views. Responses to social media posts about the proposed demotion of Lincoln suggest that a massive majority of Portlanders want to see Lincoln returned to his original setting, where he stood from 1928 to 2020.

Citizens might – or might not – have a chance to express their views on Sept. 8 when the Office of Arts and Culture hosts “Lincoln’s Return: A Public Conversation” at the Mark Building, 1219 SW Park Ave. 

Whether citizens will be able to respond appears questionable, given the city’s explanation of the event.  It will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. and is scheduled to include presentations on public art, history, place keeping and conservation.  Then a panel of experts will undertake a discussion.  A promotional description says the agenda will include “a chance to ask questions of the panelists and other Portlanders who care about history and public art.”  A cynic might suggest the program sounds like a sales pitch for an unpopular product.

Though there is no fee to attend, guests are encouraged to register in advance at: Lincoln’s Return: A Public Conversation | Portland.gov  Registration would assure one’s attendance even if the crowd is too large for everyone to sit inside. Interest in the statue’s fate suggests that a large crowd is possible.

 Sales pitch or not, supporters who favor returning Lincoln to his original 32-inch-tall pedestal are planning on ways to make their wishes known at the meeting, even if time runs short.  As an added bonus, a Lincoln impersonator with an extensive knowledge of Lincoln history will entertain early attendees in the South Park Blocks starting at 5:15 p.m.

 As many readers will recall, the Lincoln statue and a few other historic statues were toppled by political protesters in 2020.  The City Council subsequently decided that several of them should be restored.  The first successful restoration, the historic Elk Statue and Fountain funded by the estate of David P. Thompson, an early Portland mayor, occurred earlier this year.

----Fred Leeson

No AI is involved in production of this blog.  You can join Building on History’s email list by writing “add me” to faroverpar463@gmail.com

 

Will Logic Prevail at Keller Auditorium?

 

Proposed expanded western facade at Keller Auditorium (Halprin Conservancy)

A firm request by a Portland City Council committee ultimately could become an insurmountable hurdle for a new 3,000 seat public auditorium proposed to be built at Portland State University.

 While the City Life Committee voted 4 to 1 this month in favor of the PSU plan, it also demanded detailed financial plans about how to pay for the $449 million project before moving ahead with the proposal to replace the city’s Keller Auditorium.  Given the city current budget deficits and cuts to essential services, the financial planning looms as a big problem for the PSU project.  PSU seemingly compounded the problem by asking for a $44 million down payment this year from a city budget that has made no provision for it.

 The troubling financial picture provides wind in the sails of the Halprin Landscape Conservancy, a non-profit organization that advocates urging a full renovation of the Keller Auditorium – at a smaller cost – instead.

 Given the city’s budget troubles, “There has been no decision made on the (PSU) project,” said Scott Andrews, president of the non-profit conservancy that seeks protection for the four Halprin-designed public fountains, including the renowned Keller Fountain that faces the Keller Auditorium.  Although the City Life committee’s decision did not kill the PSU plan, “We were quite pleased with the result,” Andrews said.

Thanks to a 2018 design competition, the Halprin Conservancy has developed an extensive renovation plan that would expand the Keller, bring it to full compliance with earthquake building codes and add amenities for audiences and back-of-the-house functions.  Cost estimates for Halprin proposal range from $267 million to $286 million, depending whether the work is done all at once in in phases over three years.  Either option would be a substantial savings over the $449 million PSU plan.

 Th Halprin plan would add 41,000 square feet to the building, including the dramatic curving new western façade that would be composed of a glass curtainwall extending over a portion of SW Third Avenue.  Third Avenue would become a pedestrian mall between the front of the auditorium and the iconic Keller Fountain, a 1970 urban renewal jewel that is considered one of America’s greatest fountains of the 20^th Century.

 “There’s really no substitute for location,” said Tim Eddy, a Portland architect whose firm, Hennebery Eddy Architects Inc., would oversee the Halprin proposal if it comes to pass.   The fountain and new public plaza would provide a setting that Eddy called “priceless,” and “couldn’t be replicated at any location.”  Further, Eddy said the current Keller location provides 2,475 nearby parking spaces, public access by MAX trains and TriMet buses, and 800 nearby hotel rooms, amenities that surpass the proposed PSU location at SW Fourth Avenue and Lincoln Street.

Looking ahead, it is conceivable to speculate that further financial analyses will lead a majority of the City Council to back off from the PSU plan.  If the city continues to suffer more budget problems ahead, the Halprin renovation plan would become increasingly attractive -- even though it makes more sense in the first place.

 ----Fred Leeson

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What replaces Lloyd Center? Don't hold your breath.

 

Now that the long, slow death march at Lloyd Center is finally completed, our thoughts turn to what could replace the big shopping mall on 27 acres near the heart of our major Pacific Northwest city.

Alas, there is no way of knowing.  Yes, the City Council approved a “voluntary master plan” with pretty drawings showing office towers, high-rise residences and 8 acres of public open space, scattered among 14 specific “development areas.”  But a close look at the formal decision reveals important escape routes for the property owner, New-York based KREF Lloyd Center Owner LLC.  Here they are:

 1) Selling off parcels to other developers.  This no doubt is the KREF preferred strategy, but the problem lies with the high-rise commercial zoning.  The way to maximize profits under the zoning is to build high-rise buildings office towers and condos/apartments.  But we know the high-rise office market in Portland is almost dead, with major downtown buildings selling for small fractions of their earlier values.

   It is difficult to conceive of demand for tall new office space.  Based on some current condo prices, the outlook is almost as troubling for residential towers.  So how many prospective developers will be lining up?   The wait could take a long time.  If so, Northeast Portland could have a voluminous vacant scare abutting the prominent Sullivan’s Gulch and Irvington neighborhoods sitting nearby.

2) The owner or a buyer can elect whether to implement the any portion of the voluntary master plan, or else supersede the plan with a subsequent land-use review.

 3) The owner may also elect to render the voluntary master plan null and void by submitting a subsequent land-use application for the whole 27 acres.

 

By comparison, a “mandatory” master plan carries a 10-year time limit for execution, or the plan expires.  Given Portland’s current climate for high-rise buildings, the voluntary master plan approved on the Lloyd Center land could sit vacant presumably for longer than 10 years.  One wonders if there couldn’t have been a better urban planning strategy.  Alas, keeping the Lloyd Center in place was never a feasible option; in an ideal world, perhaps more attention could be been given to finding a productive new future for it beyond retailing.

 -----Fred Leeson

 No AI is used in creating this blog.  You can join Building on History’s email list by writing “add me” to faroverpar463@gmail.com

 

The Fountain: Still the Answer

 

Portland’s City Council sits on the verge of making a terrible decision about a new large performance auditorium, with primary objections based both on urban planning and on formal financing plans.

Based on a July 28 hearing, it appears that the council on Aug. 11 is likely to endorse plans for a new auditorium to be built on the Portland State University campus to replace the aging Keller (nee Civic) Auditorium several blocks away.  These are the reasons the council’s prospective decision is wrong.

1) Urban planning.  The current auditorium is coupled with the famed Keller (nee Forecourt) Fountain that was heralded by the nation’s premier architecture critic of the era as one of the best public fountains built since Renaissance times.  It was intended to be a showcase front entrance to the auditorium, and it always SHOULD be.  Portland would be doing a disservice to one of its premier landmarks by moving the auditorium elsewhere. There is talk – and merely talk – of building a smaller auditorium adjacent to the fountain after the new performance center is built at PSU.

 2) Financial debacle.  There is no funding provided yet for the proposed PSU auditorium, nor for the smaller building that would replace the Keller Auditorium.  What makes more sense is a plan proposed by the Halprin Land Conservancy to renovate the Keller Auditorium to meet modern earthquake protection standards and upgrade the building with improved amenities for performances and audiences.  The Halprin solution makes much more financial sense, rather than subjecting the city and PSU to additional years of wandering forth with their hands outstretched.

 Lost in the financial discussion seems to the subsidies that the existing auditorium provides to other smaller public performance spaces.  Assuming that a new 3,000-seat venue would continue to operate at a profit, does PSU absorb all the benefit or continue to make contributions the other public spaces?  As PSU currently struggles financially by cutting staff and reducing programs, surrendering the auditorium to PSU makes wonderful sense for PSU but not for the city of Portland. 

 PSU administrators should to be told very clearly that they need to stick to their educational mission.  We have no assurance given the university’s financial position that it would not bungle auditorium operations if it succeeds in winning them.

 When the subject of moving the auditorium surface two years ago, this blog issued a post stating that “the fountain is the answer”  as to where the auditorium should be located. The fountain was the answer then, and the fountain is the answer now.

------Fred Leeson

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Return of the Busy Corner

 

 A small neighborhood grocery that served Southeast Portland’s Woodstock neighborhood for nearly a century begins a new life soon after a long vacancy and a detailed building restoration.

 The Busy Corner Grocery, a two-story frame building erected in 1911, has sat mostly vacant since its closure in 2007.  The empty shell was bought in 2025 by Matt Froman, a Portland firefighter with a passion for restoring vintage commercial buildings instead of seeing them replaced by new developments.  The Busy Corner was a common type of neighborhood store built in its era, with living quarters above the store on the main floor. While similar stores once dotted Portland’s oldest neighborhoods, most are gone today.

 Froman wasn’t willing to see demise of the Busy Corner, which likely would have given way to a housing project.  Restoration meant peeling off the T-111 plywood on four sides and a partial rock façade that had been applied to the front façade a few decades ago.  The restoration was guided by historic photographs that indicated the original wood siding and clerestory windows in front.  Luckly, much of the original siding remained under the T-111 and Froman managed to find similar salvaged siding to replace what was missing.

 

The exterior’s preservation also included restoring large painted signs advertising Coca Cola on the building’s south side and 7-Up on the north.  Froman felt the signs “tell the story of the building and its place in the neighborhood.” He liked preserving an era when advertising was provided by sign painters rather than by printed signs that are common today.  In their era, the signs provided the building owners a small income stream. 

 Finding a new use for the building has been difficult since 2007.  Froman knew the Busy Corner was too small to compete with two larger modern grocery stores just a few blocks away.  Fortunately, another old building aficionado fell in love with it, too.  Deanna Reed, a well-stablished hair stylist, will move her Arabella Salon from Northeast Portland in August and rename it the Busy Corner Salon.  Like Froman, “I really like old buildings and their stories and history,” she said.

 

Circa 2007

Froman’s latest plunge into historic preservation is his third so far.  In 2022 he finished restoring the old Phoenix Pharmacy at SE 67^th and Foster Road into a retail space.  The next year, he added a single-story building offering multiple small storefronts on Foster between SE 59^th and 60^th Aves.  Froman calls his interest in saving old buildings a “glorified hobby,” but warns that “it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme.”  Challenging as these projects are, Froman is not giving up.  He said he has another project in mind, this time on the west side of the Willamette River.  For now, the rest of us will wait in suspense.

 ------ Fred Leeson

No AI is used in creating this blog.  You can join Building on History’s email list by writing “add me” to faroverpar463@gmail.com

 

 

Good News, Bad News

 

People who appreciate the value of Portland’s historic architecture have reasons to be both glad and sad these days.  The good news is completion of renovations at the St. Johns branch library, where a renovation project added 2,900 square feet without damaging the ambiance of the 1913 historic building that fronts the new addition.

The sad news is that Portland State University has begun demolition of the Blackstone Apartments, a 1920s building facing the South Park Blocks that has been used as a student residence since the 1970s.  The troubled university, facing big a financial deficit and a drop in enrollment, is cutting programs while hoping that a new dormitory on the Blackstone site will help attract and retain students.   Regrettably, a nearby building with a historical pedigree that that housed single women in Portland’s boom years early in the 20^th Century also is scheduled for demolition. 

The St. Johns library, easily recognized by its classical pediment supported by four Ionic columns, was one of seven branch libraries built with money donated by the wealthy steel magnate Andrew Carnegie.  Two other Carnegie branches remain as libraries – North Portland and Albina – while the others were sold off or converted to other uses.  St. Johns is the last of the three Carnegie branches to undergo improvements funded by a bond measure in 2020.

 The historic St. Johns building was among the smallest of the seven branches.  Its budget allowed for no fancy interior details and the latest round of improvements added no inappropriate details. Walking through the heavy oaken doors into the interior provides a genuine feeling for its original design.  The building was designed by Folger Johnson, who, before his arrival in Portland in 1911, had spent two years studying at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, the world’s leading school at the time for classical and Renaissance architectural studies. If he could walk into the library today, Johnson would feel right at home.

 A new children’s library and meeting room was added behind the historic building.  Designed by Bora Architecture, the addition is clad in a dark, heavy composite material the presumably offers many years of service regardless of weather.  From a distance, it appears to be metallic but a finger test proves otherwise.  The clear distinction between old and new, while somewhat jarring, establishes that the new design is not trying to fool its users with phony blend of historicity.

The sadness at Portland State University involves more than the demolition of two historic buildings. While higher education faces new challenges from the internet and artificial intelligence, PSU finds itself losing students and now facing serious budget problems.  PSU’s upper management hopes that a new dormitory replacing the old buildings will attract and retain more students.  The university paid no attention to advocates who urged preservation and renovation, instead.

The Blackstone was designed by Elmer Feig, who did several Portland apartment buildings in the booming 1920s before the Depression ended his career here.  The Martha Washington was designed by A. E. Doyle, who remains to this day one of the most prominent architects in Portland history.  No other architect has had fingers on as many downtown buildings than Doyle.  Shiny though it may be, an undistinguished new dormitory is a poor substitute for what we are losing.

 ----Fred Leeson

 No AI is used in in this blog.  You can join Building on History’s mail list by writing “add me” to faroverpar463@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

A New Twist in the Lincoln Statue Saga

 

By acting in near-secrecy, planners charged with restoring the Abraham Lincoln statue in the South Parks have created an unexpected ruckus by deciding – several months ago – that Lincoln should be displaced from the original plinth and set at ground level.

The Portland Office of Arts and Culture and the Regional Arts & Culture Council made their decision last Dec. 18 and never announced it publicly.  It also appears that the decision was made without any opportunity for public testimony of the fate of the historic statue. 

“The plan is to place the statue on the ground, sited in front of its pedestal, and to its left
as you face the pedestal from the north,” according to minutes of the Dec. 18 meeting.   The minutes also assert that the statue, toppled by protesters in 2020, is supposed to be reinstalled this spring.

The proposed change for the statue’s future only became apparent recently when a preservation advocate made a request for public records.  In general, objections to lowering Lincoln to the ground stem from the apparent effort to minimize his importance as a historical figure and a belief that sincere “preservation” requires the work to be restored to its original status.

“The toppling of Lincoln in October 2020 was an initial act of disrespect and lawlessness, and the permanent removal of Lincoln from his plinth is also a transparent act of disrespect,” says William J. Hawkins III, a leading Portland preservation expert who closely follows conditions surrounding Portland’s public art works.    He said the new plan was never mentioned in meetings with the planners in the intervening months.  “We now see that they knew this plan would be met with rightful objections,” he added.

Letters are being sent to Mayor Keith Wilson and to Portland city councilors raising objections to the process.  The Portland Historic Landmarks Commission on June 1 said it had not been notified of the plan and called for an explanation. The landmarks commission has no jurisdiction over the statue because it was toppled before the South Parks Blocks as admitted to the National Register of Historic Places.  However, the statue, if returned to its original placement, could be added to the National Register district as a contributing element.

Ironically, a proposal from a landscape architecture firm consulting  on placement of the statue said it believed that the decision was “informed by an extensive community engagement process that has already occurred.”  Where and when that engagement process occurred is an interesting question, and likely will be probed by the landmarks commission.

Wherever Lincoln ultimately lands, he is to be joined by a sign “contextualizing information on Lincoln’s legacy and impact on Oregon,” according to minutes of the Dec. 18 meeting of the Regional Arts & Culture Council.  While the council believes placing Lincoln at ground level would make him more accessible to viewers, the council apparently did not address the greater potential of intentional or accidental damage at ground level.

 ----Fred Leeson

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Should Abraham Lincoln Stand Tall?

Preservation activists who struggled successfully for full restoration of the historic D.P. Thompson elk statue and fountain might find a new challenge in plans to restore the Abraham Lincoln statue in the South Park Blocks.

Portland’s Office of Arts and Culture has stated that the Lincoln statue will be returned to the South Park Blocks this summer or fall.  But the city has not specified a final plan.  One idea under consideration, apparently, is placing Lincoln on a smaller pedestal close to ground level, instead using the historic pedestal that is approximately three feet tall.

 Putting Lincoln at ground level presumably would make the statue easier for people with disabilities to enjoy and for everyone to see the work of art closer.  But there could be legitimate objections from those who believe the statue should be returned to the position where it stood for 93 years. One objection could be about an attempt to diminish Lincoln’s historic role.  It also would make the statue for accessible for intentional or accidental damage. A goal of historic preservation generally is to restore historic elements as close as possible to original condition. 

The Lincoln statue was toppled in 2020 as part of a “day of rage” involving indigenous history. While Lincoln is widely respected for helping to abolish slavery, he is criticized for allowing execution of 39 Sioux warriors after the Dakota war of 1862 in Minnesota.  Lincoln commuted death sentences for 264 Sioux involved in the same battle.

Darion Jones, assistant director of the Arts and Culture office did not respond to an email from this blog asking about the city’s plans. However, in a television interview he said there “is a proposal” that would place Lincoln close to ground level.

Aubrey Russell, a preservation advocate who has paid close attention to the city’s planning process, appears to have raised the first objections.  “The act of removing Lincoln from his pedestal has a universally understood meaning,” he says.  “It is a demeaning gesture which permanently
humiliates the person it commemorates.

“Removing Lincoln from his pedestal also diminishes a work of art, and a protected historic resource.  The city should respect its commitment to maintaining its historic resources, and art, intact,” Russell added.

As part of the statue’s restoration, scholars are working on an inscription that will provide context of Lincoln’s historical importance.  Chet Orloff, a retired executive director of the Oregon Historical Society, agrees with that strategy.  “I believe that the larger truth of Lincoln and his legacy must be told so that people can make their own judgment and not be ‘told’ where Lincoln stands relative to most of us.  I think he stands alone, and ought to be shown as such.  We debase and remove the statues of wrongful and supposed ‘heroes;’ but Lincoln was heroic in nearly all senses.  Portland, itself, would be debased in this regard.”

 The statue was placed in the South Park Blocks in 1927.  It was a gift from Dr. Henry Waldo Coe, and was sculpted by George Fite Waters. 

Once the city’s restoration plans are made public, challenges conceivably could be raised to the Portland City Council.

 ---Fred Leeson

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New Honors for Union Station

 

One of Portland’s most iconic historic buildings is earning new acclaim for its economic and cultural importance to Black residents in during a 75-year period ending in 1971.

 Union Station with its notable 144-foot-tall clock tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its transportation and architectural merit in 1975.  Now an amended nomination lists its major significance for Black history and commerce.

The amending information received glowing appreciation from the Portland Historical Landmarks Commission and will be forwarded what likely will be slam-dunk approval by a state preservation committee and then the National Park Service.

 In short, Union Station proved to be “the primary workplace and employer for the Black community in Portland, Oregon for the entirety of the 1896-1971 period.” Indeed, a 1941 study by the Portland Urban League concluded that 98 percent of working Black Portland residents worked in Union Station or for railroads that served it. 

 “The beginning of this date range (1896-1971) reflects the completion and first use of the station as a passenger terminal, with African Americans employed from the very beginning both at the station as well as on trains. The end of the period is when Black employment at Union Station began to decline precipitously” with the advent of Amtrak rail service.

 Researchers of the new historic material were Kristen Minor, a historic architecture consultant, and Zachary Stocks and Mariah Rocker, affiliated with the non-profit Oregon Black Pioneers organization.

 From Union Station’s earliest years, Blacks worked as Redcaps, Pullman porters, chair-car porters, baggage handlers, dining car cooks and waiters and car cleaners.  Given racial discrimination prevalent for several decades, Blacks were not selected for managerial positions.  Yet their jobs provided suitable income, for the most part, to support families and buy property. 

High Steppers, a band composed of railroad employees, 1923

“The significance of railroad jobs at Union Station to Portland’s African American community was not only economic; it held a cultural bond that shaped where families lived, provided the opportunity to earn a steady income without back-breaking labor, hosted Black union organization meetings, and fostered a sense of belonging that was unmatched by that of any other employer or commercial location in Portland,” the document states. .

“The arrival of the railroad represented a major gain for local Black employment, offering the chance to obtain jobs that were extremely limited otherwise. Railroad companies up and down the west coast sought Black labor for many customer-facing service jobs on trains beginning in the 1870s and 1880s. Railroads specifically sought Black workers for two reasons: first because they were cheaper than hiring white men, and second because African Americans especially from the South were considered proficient in customer service.”

 A. Philip Randolph, a New York labor activist who founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters,  visited Portland at least six times between 1927 and 1954 as part of his organizing efforts.   In 1937, the union became the first African American labor union to sign a collective bargaining agreement with a major corporation, the Pullman Car Co.

In endorsing the national nomination, the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission called it “a strong example of how to look at important places through the lends of cultural significance.”

 ---Fred Leeson

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Tortuous History of a Mid-Century Modern Landmark

 

In the early 1950s, Portland’s civic boosters feared that Portland was falling behind major West Coast cities in erecting a center for sports and conventions.  Even in the backwaters, Spokane, Washington, was opening a new 5,700-seat indoor venue.

Portland’s response was a May, 1954 ballot measure calling for the creation of a new city agency, the Exposition-Recreation Commission, to build a sports and convention center for $8 million.

 Alas, the successful measure didn’t specify where it would be built, or even for what sorts of events.  Could it be more than one facility?  What about baseball, football and the Pacific International Livestock Show? How realistic was the $8 million figure?

 Controversies raged over the next six years, including three more ballot appearances, fights between the Portland City Council and its own Exposition-Recreation Commission and insurgence of East Portland voters.  By 1960, the new Veterans Memorial Coliseum finally landed in a location that never had rated as a favorite. (By then the livestock show that had been a major booster of the project found itself squeezed out.) 

 Portland author Michael A. Orr reveals the convoluted, messy origins of the Coliseum in his new book, “Building Portland’s Memorial Coliseum:  A Mid-century Political Firestorm.” Orr’s massively-researched and richly detailed narrative includes novel factors at the time such as plans for new freeways, Lloyd Center and federal urban renewal money that played indirect roles in the Coliseum planning.

  In the early going, the five-member City Council by 3-2 favored a downtown location at or near the Civic Auditorium for the new building.  The Exposition-Recreation Commission, also by a 3-2 split favored the East Vanport/Delta Park site in North Portland that had been devastated by the 1948 flood.  City commissioners worried about another flood and possible geological instability at Vanport.

The city attorney essentially scrubbed the Vanport site by advising the council that they did not have to cede the city-owned Vanport site to the Exposition Commission if they didn’t want to. And they didn't.

In response, East Portlander’s headed by the East Side Commercial Club sponsored a 1956 initiative declaring that the new facility had to be located east of the Willamette River.  The measure passed by a razor-thin 303 votes.  Two more ballot measures later I 1956 affirmed the earlier vote, paving the way for the Coliseum to be built between the east ends of the Broadway and Steel Bridges.

Clearing approximately 13 square blocks for the Coliseum and surface parking meant some 1,400 mostly Black renters had to be evicted.  As Orr writes, “the city destroyed the heart of Portland’s Black community flourishing in the years following the 1948 Vanport flood.” The former tenants received no recompense.

 The landmark mid-century modern Coliseum suffered from deferred maintenance after the new Rose Quarter arena (now called the Moda Center) opened in the 1990s, leading some to believe the Coliseum's future was in jeopardy.  Orr says recent renovations once again have made it a pleasant event venue.  “It doesn’t feel like a dump anymore,” he said.  “Now it looks as if someone cares.”

Sometimes history does swirl around to repeat itself.  The current squabble over public funding for Moda Center renovations could prove over time to be almost as messy as the Coliseum saga the Orr so deftly examines.   

 ------Fred Leeson

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