The Olmsted Network is the first and only national organization dedicated to championing Olmsted parks, places, and principles through advocacy, education and stewardship. Check out their new website.
Hillsdale-based Scout Troop 1 offered their muscles and tenacity at Friends of Terwilliger’s restoration site in the SW Bancroft right-of-way on EarthDay 2023.
You may have noticed on-going work here:
Friends of Terwilliger have been working with Portland Parks and Recreation (PP&R) for the past five years to restore a narrow strip (~120ft wide) of ~1 acre parkland centered around the Bancroft St right-of-way just below Terwilliger Parkway and the Marquam Hill hospitals.
A long-term project to establish a native plant demonstration garden, based upon Frederick Walpole’s illustrations of Oregon Native Plants, is about to begin in Historic Terwilliger Parkway on either side of the SW Bancroft St right-of-way.
Friends of Terwilliger (FOT) was honored to guide participants of the “Preserving the Historic Road International” (PHRI) Conference on a tour of Terwilliger Parkway during their conference being hosted in Portland in late September.
(photo from 1912 bus tour)
Eagle Point, the area of Terwilliger Parkway with spectacular views of the mountains to the east and the Willamette River, got a welcome clean up in July.
It’s been a long time coming, but Terwilliger Parkway has finally been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1985 the Portland Park Bureau hired a consultant to prepare nominations to the National Historic Register for several older city parks. But then they never submitted them to the National Park Service for listing. Now FOT has completed the task!
Over a hundred years ago, civic leaders of the young city of Portland hired the world-famous Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm to create a comprehensive park plan.
We are a registered 501(c)(3) organization and donations are tax-deductible. All donations go directly to support our restoration, advocacy and outreach efforts.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation has largely completed the installation of new LED light fixtures on the light poles along Terwilliger Parkway between Duniway Park and Capitol Hwy. The change is notable!
November’s restoration work party brought us back to the Norris “foundation” to remove tree and ground ivy as well as blackberries. This 2-acre site was once considered by the Portland chapter of the Rhododendron Society for its test garden before locating to its current site at Crystal Springs.
A Metro steering committee has decided that a new Southwest Portland light rail line will travel out Barbur Blvd. from downtown Portland to Tigard and Tualatin. A planned station at SW Gibbs St. (below the tram) is intended to serve OHSU and other Marquam Hill institutions that are located several hundred feet up a steep hillside with Terwilliger Parkway lying in between. TriMet and Metro have proposed a “Marquam Hill Connection” to get people up the hillside from the SW Barbur MAX station to OHSU. Three of the proposals involve a combination of above-ground elevator towers and bridges and ramps, most of which would be located in Terwilliger Parkway and will necessitate the removal of many trees and significant alterations to the park. A fourth proposal is to build a pedestrian tunnel under the hillside with an underground elevator to bring people up to OHSU.
Friends of Terwilliger has contacted the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC) to express our concern for the Totem Pole in the Terwilliger Parkway. The Totem Pole has numerous holes inflicted by wood-boring woodpeckers and is in need of protective restoration, repainting, and care.
The RACC public art “Totem Pole” is located at the Elk Point Viewpoint in the Terwilliger Parkway and was carved by Chief Lelooska in 1959. It became a partof RACC’s Public Art Program in the late 1980’s.
What does the Totem Pole at Elk Point, within the Terwilliger Parkway, have in common with the 1959 Oregon’s Centennial Celebration, Operation Deep Freeze, New Zealand, Antarctica, The Oregon Zoo and John F. Kennedy?
What would you say is the most identifiable and “iconic” thing about Terwilliger Parkway? The views and lush natural vegetation may be what people most like about Terwilliger, but they don’t really signify the parkway itself. The roadway and adjoining path are the spine of the linear park and are the most significant piece of park infrastructure, but they aren’t very iconic. We think that the historic streetlights that line the roadway are its most identifiable feature.
Terwilliger Parkway was not named after “Sideshow Bob” Terwilliger of “The Simpsons” fame; more likely it was the other way around.
Marquam Hill has a strange and convoluted history that plays into the creation of both Terwilliger Parkway and Oregon Health and Sciences University. Many people wonder how it is that two large medical facilities – OHSU and the VA Medical Center - would be in such a hard-to-access location. To answer that we have to go back to 1880 and efforts to bring the first transcontinental railroad link to the Northwest.
Terwilliger Parkway is a linear park, owned by the City of Portland, that winds south from downtown along the west hills. It consists of the road itself (“Terwilliger Boulevard”) and about 100 ft. of land on either side of the road. The Parkway represents Portland’s early recognition of the value of green spaces within the city, and now provides recreation and relaxation to its many visitors.
Emanuel Tillman Mische, a former employee of the Olmsted
Brothers firm was retained as Portland’s park superintendent from 1908-1915.
After 110 years, once-private Eagle Point on the Terwilliger Parkway has become a public overlook.
A blog post by Laura O. Foster
My guidebooks offer walking explorations of the neighborhoods, trails and parks of Portland, Oregon and its nearby towns. More info: lauraofoster.com
Besides being a spectacular site, Eagle Point has a fascinating history. The property adjoins Terwilliger Parkway to the east and straddles the original Donation Land Claims of Elizabeth Thomas Caruthers (north) and James and Philinda Terwilliger (south); Lowell St. was the dividing line between the old claims.