Mill Ends Park was dedicated on March 17, 1948, and officially became a city park on the same day in 1976.
What’s most remarkable about this park is the story of its origin, oh, and it’s paltry size. Mill Ends covers an area of 452 square inches, about 2 feet square. Mill Ends Park is the smallest park in the world.
Oregon Journal columnist Dick Fagan wrote a popular column called Mill Ends, covering whatever whimsy he came up with. In 1946, from his office window overlooking Front Avenue (now Naito Parkway), he spotted a 2 square foot hole in a raised bit of concrete in the median. A light pole was, presumably, intended for the spot, but was never installed. Fagan invented stories of leprechaun exploits in the tiny “park.”
One story, described in the Oregon Encyclopedia entry for Mill Ends, addresses the park’s origin:
One day, as Fagan told the story, he looked out his window and saw a leprechaun digging in the hole. Fagan ran downstairs, dashed across the street, and caught the leprechaun. According to Irish lore, if you catch a leprechaun, he has to grant you a wish. Fagan wished for his own park, but he never specified where or how big the park should be. The leprechaun granted his wish and gave Fagan the hole in the traffic median as his own personal park. Fagan named the spot after his column.
Today was the first sunny day in a LONG time. I knew I had to get out in the sun if I am to survive another week of rain. Mill Ends park has been on my list of places to visit, but I haven't been able to convince anyone to go with me. Caleb agreed to go to Portland with me after I threw in a trip to Powell's books and lunch at Noodles and Co. I probably played up the "park" a little too much because Caleb was expecting tiny playground equipment and who knows what else. Can you see the disappointment in his face? On a high note he claimed he saw Mark Zuckerberg. Then again he thought he saw Jake Gylenhall at Walmart last week "for reals."
We also went down to the waterfront to see the beautiful blossoms and enjoy the blue sky.
Can you tell Caleb loves to get his picture taken?
Steel Bridge
Spring has definitely sprung in Portland!
Happy Easter everyone! I always miss family on holidays, but we managed to have a little fun today. We had a wonderful dinner of ham and cheesy potatoes. For dessert we had Jason's latest creation. It was a sugar cookie with white chocolate mousse and chopped strawberries on top. It was SO GOOD! We had our Easter egg hunt in stages because of the on again, off again rain all day. First, we hid one large plastic egg for each of the boys and they took turns finding theirs with the gps.
Here's Hiram looking for his. It's hidden under that tree in the foreground.
Then we did the "golden egg" hunt for a large prize which was a frog habitat. This year we didn't have a golden egg so we used an Easter bunny decoration. Jason hid it in a junky car in our backyard. Hiram found it.
After that we were soaking wet, so we brought the hunt inside. We hid the eggs in the living room, so that didn't take too long. In true mom fashion, I left he eggs that had money in them in a sack in our bedroom, so we took the hunt outside again and Jason hid them in the front yard.
After all that Jason and I decided that the kids are getting too old for Easter egg hunts. Maybe we'll have to think up something new for next year.
