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Difino
| • | Washington Park is one of the oldest, best-loved, and well-used parks in Portland Oregon. The city purchased the original 40.78 acres in 1871 from Amos N. King for the then high price of $32,624. Many people questioned the purchase given that the population of Portland at the time was only 8,000 and the site was thick with brush and timber, and cougar roamed the hills. The site was inaccessible until years later when logging and the installation of a cable car made the park accessible. Early in the 1900s the sentiment began to change and Portland's forefathers were heralded for their long-range vision.
City Park, as Washington Park was originally known until 1909, was developed slowly. In the mid-1800s, the city hired Charles M. Meyers as its first park keeper. A native of Germany and a seaman, Meyers had no formal training but enthusiastically began to develop the park by using his memories of European parks as a guide. By 1900, the park had developed from a wilderness to a place of drives, walkways, formal plantings, lawns, clipped hedges, ornamental flower displays, and a zoo. In 1903, John C. Olmsted toured Portland and recommended changes of lasting usefulness to the park. He advised changing the name from City Park to one of more distinction, moving the main entrance to Park Place, separating vehicular traffic from foot traffic, and restoring some of the formally planted areas to their natural beauty with native shrubs and ground cover.
Washington Park was also the site of Portland's first zoo. In 1925, the zoo moved to a higher location, the present site of the Japanese Garden. The zoo opened at its present location in 1959 and in the 1960s its management was given to Metro, under whom it has continued to thrive.
Source: [wikipedia: washington park, portland]
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