Columbia Park, Urban park in North Portland, United States.
Columbia Park is a wooded park in north Portland, Oregon, with an open meadow at its eastern end. Ellis Lawrence designed a half-timbered brick building in the wooded area, mainly for restrooms and an open picnic pavilion. Mische's 1914 plan set the meadow inside an oval path system that passes in and out of the perimeter trees and plantings.
The park was established in 1891 when the City of Albina purchased wooded land for public use. After Portland and Albina merged, it became the first major green space serving the northwestern part of the city.
The restroom and picnic pavilion in the wooded area was designed by architect Ellis Lawrence, with half-timbering, wide barge boards on support brackets and brick, a Tudor-style look shared by over two dozen early Portland park buildings. The 1914 Mische plan set a music court at the meadow's eastern head, along a north-south promenade with fountains at each end.
The 1914 Mische plan's walkways still shape the grounds: an oval path system loops through the perimeter trees and in and out of the plantings around the meadow. The restroom and picnic pavilion building sits within the wooded area. The meadow is now smaller than the 1914 plan intended, so the wooded border is the more extensive part to walk.
The Nature Patch, added in 2020, displays wildflowers including crocuses with flat-topped log benches set among the trees. This section was designed specifically to attract pollinators and create a habitat for native species.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,789 contributors worldwide.