Pettygrove Park is a city park in downtown

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, United States. It is the second park in a series of urban open spaces designed by American landscape architect

Lawrence Halprin Lawrence Halprin (July 1, 1916 – October 25, 2009) was an American landscape architect, designer, and teacher. Beginning his career in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, in 1949, Halprin often collaborated with a local circle of modernist ...

in the South Auditorium District

urban renewal Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...

area. The soft mounds of landscaping are responsible for the park's nickname of '

Mae West Mary Jane "Mae" West (August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American actress, singer, comedian, screenwriter, and playwright whose career spanned more than seven decades. Recognized as a prominent sex symbol of her time, she was known ...

Park'.

Description and history

Pettygrove Park is bounded on all sides by pedestrian malls, which connect to other parks, including

Keller Fountain Park Keller Fountain Park is a city park in Downtown Portland, downtown Portland, Oregon, Portland, Oregon. Originally named Forecourt Fountain or Auditorium Forecourt, the park opened in 1970 across Third Avenue from what was then Civic Auditorium. ...

and Lovejoy Plaza. The park is characterized by a dense tree canopy which shades a core of internal asphalt pathways pivoting along grassy berms and basalt stone walls. At the southeast corner of the park, a reflecting pool and sculpture serve as a focal point for pedestrians. The sculpture, called ''

The Dreamer The Dreamer may refer to: Comics * ''The Dreamer'' (comics), a 1985 semi-autobiographical graphic novel by Will Eisner * ''The Dreamer'' (webcomic), a 2007–2017 comic book series and webcomic by Lora Innes Film and television * ''The Dreamer' ...

'', was designed by

Manuel Izquierdo Manuel Izquierdo (September 26, 1925 – July 17, 2009) was a sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dim ...

and commissioned by the

Portland Development Commission Prosper Portland, formerly the Portland Development Commission (PDC), is the community development corporation created by the city of Portland, Oregon. It promotes development, housing projects and economic development within the city's eleven ur ...

in 1979. The park was named for

Francis Pettygrove Francis William Pettygrove ( – October 5, 1887) was an American pioneer and merchant who was one of the founders of the cities of Portland, Oregon, and Port Townsend, Washington. Born in Maine, he re-located to the Oregon Country in 1843 to est ...

, one of the early settlers of the Portland townsite. The same coin used by Pettygrove and settler

Asa Lovejoy Asa Lawrence Lovejoy (March 14, 1808 – September 10, 1882) was an American pioneer and politician in the region that would become the U.S. state of Oregon. He is best remembered as a founder of the city of Portland, Oregon. He was an attorney ...

to determine whether the city would be named Portland or Boston was flipped to determine which park in the open-space sequence would be

Lovejoy ''Lovejoy'' is a British television comedy-drama mystery fiction, mystery series, based on the Lovejoy (novel series), novels by John Grant (Lovejoy), John Grant under the pen name Jonathan Gash. The show, which ran to 71 episodes over six ser ...

and which would be Pettygrove.

References

{{Parks in Portland, Oregon 1966 establishments in Oregon Parks in Southwest Portland, Oregon Protected areas established in 1966 Urban public parks

Description and history

See also

References