Sculpture and Statues -- A History of Portland, Oregon Through its Art

Portland's reputation as one of the final destinations at the end of the Oregon Trail has long been a part of its cultural history.  The Oregon Trail, while officially ending in Oregon City, brought settlers out west to follow fortunes of logging, farming, and a better life in the frontier lands of the nation.  Many families moved west to Portland with hopes of a new life, starting over with the chance to own land, to provide a prosperous future for the generations to come.  While the wagon train process was brutal and long -- one in 10 settlers died along the passage, cholera epidemics and accidental gunfire deaths all plagued the pioneers -- an estimated half million people came across from the midwest for a chance to find a better life out west.

Chinese immigration has been a facet of Portland's population landscape since the early days of the frontier.  From the dangerous early days of shanghai and opium dens to the anti-Chinese riots in 1886, and into the formal establishment of Chinatown in Portland's northwest quadrant, there is a lengthy history of Chinese American influence.  At the gate to Chinatown -- now known as the Pearl District, after significant gentrification -- is the large archway and accompanying lions, standing guard.  Erected in 1986, this gateway serves as the only distinct landmark noting an ethnic enclave within the city limits.

Driving in Portland can be a challenge for some, but it becomes a little more interesting when there is a full-sized stag in the middle of a major thoroughfare.  Erected in 1900, the stag sculpture was added to a public horse trough.  While the trough is now only used by Portland's mounted police, the stag stands as a representation of Portland's wilder times, when plenty of four-legged animals used the streets alongside the streetcars, pedestrians and omnibuses.

During the 1970's the majority of American cities were getting in line for federal dollars for transit -- specifically, highway construction.  Cities were upgrading old highways, adding freeway loops to allow for faster auto transportation around the perimeter, and extending freeway systems into the up and coming suburbs.  For most of America, the focus was on auto transit only.  Portland followed suit, constructing the I-405 loop and Fremont Bridge, encircling the city; Sunset Highway, extending into Beaverton and beyond; I-84, offering a direct route to Gresham and The Gorge; and continual maintenance of I-5, the north/south conduit splitting Portland in two and connecting it with Vancouver to the north and Salem to the south.  During this time, Portland installed the transit mall, where the public bus system had direct access to the downtown area from the suburbs.  

After completion of the initial freeway projects, the City of Portland decided to go a different direction:  light rail.  While the rest of the country was focusing on bigger, better, longer freeways, Portland lobbied the federal government for funding to implement a light rail system, connecting the center of the city with the suburbs and providing a fast, gridlock-free, inexpensive way to travel into the city.  Washington DC was stymied:  Why on earth was this city looking to reinstate a dead mode of transportation?  But, Portland pushed forward.  

The resulting transit mall has since incorporated street car, light rail and bus traffic in the same lanes.  Installed during the initial phases of construction, the statues above are all part of the scene on the transit mall.

With the introduction of mass transit to the Portland area, additional neighborhoods were going up on the east side of the Willamette River.  One such neighborhood, Laurelhurst, began in 1909 as an upscale housing development targeting the wealthier businessmen of Portland.  This statue, Joan of Arc, Maid of Orleans, was placed in Coe Circle -- named for Henry Waldo Coe, a doctor and friend to Theodore Roosevelt -- by Coe himself in 1924.  In May 1925, the sculpture was dedicated to the Doughboys of World War I, and stands today as a tribute to those who fought and died for the United States.