Portland Places: South Park Blocks

I originally posted the PORTLAND PLACES: South Park Blocks page on my old website on March 17, 2010.

Portland's South Park Blocks are a strip of narrow city blocks between what would be SW 8th and SW 9th Avenues, though both are typically called Park Avenue, since they are narrow and one runs in each direction. These blocks are only about half as wide as the other city blocks in this part of the city.

The South Park Blocks were part of Daniel H. Lownsdale's 1852 plat of what is now downtown Portland. At the time the narrow blocks were an unimproved road on the outskirts of the city and from Jefferson Street south were part of the Great Plank Road to the Tualatin Valley. The South Park Blocks were not landscaped until 1877 when the city council authorized florist and landscape designer Louis G. Pfunder to plant 104 Lombardy poplars and elms between Salmon and Hall Streets. The blocks didn't begin to develop into a formal park until 1885.

Research sources for the following posts include Portland Parks & Recreation, Emporis and Wikipedia. The following posts include links to historical photographs from the Oregon Historical Society, the Salem Public Library's Historic Photo Collection, American Classic Images and Wikipedia.

Map of the South Park Blocks & Surrounding Area

1: Simon Benson Memorial
2: Shemanski Fountain
3: Roosevelt Hotel
4: Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
5: Antoinette Hatfield Hall
6: First Congregational Church
7: Abraham Lincoln Statue
8: Theodore Roosevelt, Rough Rider
9: Great Plank Road Marker
10: Portland Art Museum
11: Oregon Historical Society
12: Sovereign Hotel
13: Peace Chant
14: St. James Lutheran Church
15: Sixth Church of Christ Scientist
16: First Christian Church
17: Ladd Carriage House
18: Memorial Tree & In the Shadow of the Elm
19: Portland Streetcar Line
20: Lincoln Hall
21: Farewell to Orpheus
22: Simon Benson House
23: Hōlon
24: Shattuck Hall
25: South Park Blocks Playground

Related Links:
South Park Blocks at Portland Parks & Recreation

Continue to 1: Simon Benson Memorial…