Colonel Summers Park is a city park in the Buckman of southeast

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, ...

, USA. The park was created in 1921 and was originally called Belmont Park for Belmont Street which runs east–west on its boundary. In 1938, it was renamed in honor of Colonel Owen Summers who, as an Oregon legislator, introduced a bill that combined the state militia units into the

Oregon National Guard The Oregon Military Department is an agency of the Government of Oregon, government of the U.S. state of Oregon, which oversees the armed forces of the state of Oregon. Under the authority and direction of the Governor of Oregon, governor as ...

. Summers was the commanding officer of a volunteer regiment in the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

, which served in forty-two engagements during the war. The park includes recreation areas and a

community garden A community garden is a piece of land gardened or cultivated by a group of people individually or collectively. Normally in community gardens, the land is divided into individual plots. Each individual gardener is responsible for their own plot ...

added in 1975.

Amenities

Amenities include a picnic area, basketball court, paved paths, picnic shelter, reservable picnic site, picnic tables, playground, softball field, statue or public art, tennis backboard, tennis court and volleyball court. In the southwest corner of the park, there is a large rock with Colonel Owen Summers plaque attached. The rock came from Kelly Butte. File:Colonel Summers Park renovated section.jpg, Splash pad completed in September 2017 File:Owen Summers plaque at Colonel Summers Park.jpg, Colonel Owen Summers plaque at the southwest corner of the park

History

The park was originally opened as Belmont Park. It was renamed to the current name in 1938 in honor of Colonel Owen Summers who was a former Oregon Legislature member. In May 2013, complaints about crime, underage drinking and drug activity at the park prompted a community meeting, before which the parks department issued a statement that it had been working with the

Oregon Liquor Control Commission The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC), formerly known as the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, is a government agency of the U.S. state of Oregon. The OLCC was created by an act of the Oregon Legislative Assembly in 1933, days after ...

and the

Portland Police Bureau The Portland Police Bureau (PPB), officially the Portland Bureau of Police, is the law enforcement agency of the city of Portland, Oregon, Portland, the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of September 2024, the Bureau has around 800 ...

. At the meeting, Portland Parks & Recreation, the police and Buckman residents discussed eliminating the outlaws and maintaining the community appeal.

References

{{Parks in Portland, Oregon 1921 establishments in Oregon Buckman, Portland, Oregon Parks in Southeast Portland, Oregon Protected areas established in 1921 Urban public parks

Amenities

History

See also

References