The plan for a park system in

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, ...

, produced by the

Olmsted Brothers The Olmsted Brothers company was a Landscape architecture, landscape architectural firm in the United States, established in 1898 by brothers John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920) and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870–1957), sons of the landscape ar ...

landscape architecture firm in 1903 served as the model for much of the young U.S. city's development, including neighborhood and regional parks, scenic boulevards, and pedestrian pathways. The Olmsteds were retained by the city's new Park Board (an early predecessor of

Portland Parks & Recreation Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) is a Bureau of the City of Portland, Oregon that manages the city parks, natural areas, recreational facilities, gardens, and trails; properties that occupy more than in total. The bureau employs a total of 4,36 ...

), under the guidance of board member

Thomas Lamb Eliot Thomas Lamb Eliot ( – ) was an Oregon pioneer, minister of one of the first churches on the west coast of the U.S., president of the Portland Children's Home, president of the Oregon Humane Society, a director of the Art Association, director ...

. The comprehensive plan was typical of the

City Beautiful movement The City Beautiful movement was a reform philosophy of North American architecture and urban planning that flourished during the 1890s and 1900s with the intent of introducing beautification and monumental grandeur in cities. It was a part of th ...

, and was brought to Portland during the run-up to the 1905

Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition The Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, commonly also known as the Lewis and Clark Exposition, and officially known as the Lewis and Clark Centennial and American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair, was a worldwide World's fair, exposition h ...

. The report was published as an appendix to the Park Board's annual report on December 31, 1903. Emanuel Tillman Mische, formerly an employee of the Olmsted Brothers, was hired to oversee the implementation of the plan in 1908, serving until 1914 as Parks Superintendent. The city, however, was slow to acquire the necessary lands to implement the plan, as prices rose quickly; in 1909 John Olmsted stated that "Portland is not awake to her opportunities." In the decades since, however, the plan has served to guide most of the development of Portland's parks.

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Further reading