Astoria Column from downtown Astoria in 1998.
Built atop Coxcomb Hill, Astoria's highest point, in 1926 at a cost of $32,550, the 125-foot Astoria Column is the world's only large piece of memorial architecture made of reinforced concrete with a pictorial sgraffito frieze.
Astoria Column in 1998.
The Column is patterned after the Trajan Column in Rome. 164 steps spiral up the inside of the column to a viewing platform at the top.
Astoria Column on September 24, 2005.
The frieze depicts the history of the area, including the discovery of the Columbia by Robert Gray in 1792, the American claims to the Northwest Territory and the arrival of the Great Northern railroad. (The Great Northern actually didn't come to Astoria, though it was part owner of the Spokane, Portland & Seattle. The president of the Great Northern donated some of the funds used to built the column, thus the railroad's inclusion.)
View from the Astoria Column in 1998.
There is quite a view of Astoria from Coxcomb Hill, as these pictures illustrate. John Friend Chitwood, born in 1839, was known as the "Father of Coxcomb Hill," and advocated for a monument on the site to honor the Lewis & Clark Expedition. In 1880 he blazed a trail to the top of Coxcomb Hill and in 1915 he completed a wagon road. He died in 1920, and never saw the column built.
View from Coxcomb Hill, September 24, 2005.
Coxcomb Hill is also the site of the first Community Antenna Television installation in the United States, completed in February 1949. This was an outgrowth of L. E. Ed Parsons' system, and there is a small plaque about his invention here.
View from Coxcomb Hill, September 24, 2005.
On April 12, 1961, Astoria's 150th Anniversary, an Indian Burial Canoe was placed on Coxcomb Hill as a symbolic memorial to Chinook Indian Chief Comcomly by his descendants. Comcomly, born around 1765, was known by Lewis & Clark and was honored and respected by the founding Astorians, the North Westers and the Hudson's Bay Fur Traders. Comcomly died in 1830. The honored guest at the ceremony was Lord Astor of England, descendent and namesake of the city's founder, John Jacob Astor, who, incidentally, never visited Astoria.
On May 2, 1974, the Astoria Column was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
On December 22, 1994, a Time Capsule was buried on Coxcomb Hill near the Column to commemorate the sesquicentennial (150 years) of Clatsop County. The Time Capsule will be opened on June 22, 2044. Mark your Calendars!
Astoria Column wrapped for painting in 1995.
Over the years since the column was built, the wind, rain and salty ocean mist took its toll on the frieze. In 1995, the column was surrounded by scaffolding and wrapped in plastic to allow artists to painstakingly restore the frieze to its original glory, at a cost of $1.5 million. When the plastic and scaffolding were removed late in 1995, the column looked as good at it did in 1926.
Today, there are plans to build an interpretive center near the column, including a 20 foot tall scale model of the column, with a spiral staircase around the outside, to allow visitors to better view the details of the frieze.
Historical Photos:
Astoria Column being painted (HistoricPhotoArchive.net)
Astoria Column, May 4, 1935 (HistoricPhotoArchive.net)
Astoria Column, 1948 (Salem Public Library)
Astoria Column, September 1960 (Salem Public Library)
Astoria Column, April 1961 (HistoricPhotoArchive.net)
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