Friends of Columbia Park

When J.C. Olmsted came to Portland in 1903, he visited the 35-acre Columbia Park, which was the first park in Portland’s Northeast quadrant. It was a wooded tract, and new trees had been planted in its open space. Olmsted recommended removing the new trees and enlarging the meadow. Olmsted also noted Columbia Park could serve as a crucial hub within his recommended city-wide “loop” of parks and boulevards. In 1914 Emanuel T. Mische, Portland’s first Park Superintendent and a former Olmsted Firm employee, created a plan that more closely matched the Olmsted vision. He designed an oval path system that would pass in and out of the perimeter trees and plantings surrounding the large open meadow.  East of the meadow, he planned a music court centered along a north-south promenade. Behind the promenade were turf, sand areas, and a wading pool. West of the meadow, near North Woolsey Avenue, he placed what he called a youngster’s lawn and an administration yard.

Today the original plan for the walkways still exists, although the meadow is much smaller than in the 1914 plan. On the southern edge, along N Lombard Street, there is now a community cottage. Community action saved Historic Columbia Cottage, built in 1940, from a proposed parking lot that threatened it in 1989, and it is now operated by the Friends of Columbia Park. Columbia Park remains a vibrant community resource for North Portlanders.