Lownsdale Square, SW Portland, acq. 1852/69 (Also Chapman Square) [The Plaza Blocks]

The 1869 date above reflects portlandoregon.gov‘s acquisition date of Lownsdale Square, which it describes as the north half of “The Plaza Blocks,” the southern half—the other side of the elk statue in the middle of Main Street—being Chapman Square. The pair together, apparently, ended up representing, in a way, the duality of the sexes:

The Plaza Blocks were lively places where orators held forth and citizens assembled. They are characterized in part by several large old elms and gingko trees. Chapman Square, originally designed for the exclusive use of women and children, features all female gingko trees. Lownsdale Square was to be the “gentlemen’s gathering place.” Today the Plaza Blocks are still a busy gathering place, although men and women can now safely coexist in either of them.

I don’t know who wrote this and if they were joking about the present safe coexistence of the sexes, or lamenting that the segregation has ceased to remain. Of course I noticed Chapman Square across the two lanes of traffic and beyond the elk, I just didn’t consider them a pair. Also the Chapman half of things was closed that day, fenced-off, as both Occupy-occupied plazas were for a long time. Also, Ruby Fay Purdy, in her 1947 opus The Rose City of the World: Portland, Oregon, ignore Chapman entirely and places Lownsdale’s origins 17 years prior:

This location was the first city park designated on the platt of the city and recorded as such December 9, 1852. It was donated by one of the earliest settlers of Portland, Daniel H. Lownsdale. Benches line the walk and men from all over the country congregate here “to make and unmake laws.” It is not an unusual site to see the conventional “soap box orator” with an audience.

The portlandoregon.gov page for Y-chromosome-free Chapman Square (interestingly an aerial view would show two adjacent Xs) is identical to that of Lownsdale, except the order of facts is flipped so those about Chapman come first. It seems comically sexist that Lownsdale makes it into The Rose City of the World with no mention of Chapman, especially from a female author. And when she says “men from all over the country” it is not a synecdoche for all citizens of Portland—the women and children were expected to amuse themselves one block south. Was it then a great rite of passage for adolescent boys to cross Main Street and enter the world of men? Were they asked to leave if too young, threatened if female? Who was the first lady to make her presence known? Did she mount a soap box and preach equality? Does this incident precede female representation in Portland government? Why must the war statues be more historic than the female gingko trees? Were people actually proud of our involvement in the Spanish-American War, the occupation of the Philippines? What does the civil war have to do with Oregon, simply a territory for its duration? What the fuck is going on here?

In this square, which legend has it, was the feeding ground for elk, is a statue of a large elk, and a fountain from which fresh Bull Run water flows continuously.

Can we not agree on the elk statue that symbolically stands between the plazas, forgetting that only boy elk have antlers, that we need not divide man from woman, north from south, governments from their people, that the Plaza Blocks are united like the Park Blocks and this sturdy and noble elk that splits the two lanes of Main Street between 3rd and 4th—forcing the motorist to experience the public park from the comfort of the driver’s side—binds us by the strength of our difference. Can we not agree on the elk, the product of the Skidmore Fountain’s inspiration of David P. Thompson who, looking out the window of his office upon the sculpture thought, “I wanna give the city one of those,” individual generosity made public glory? In his words,

From my office window I have an opportunity see the great benefit the Skidmore Fountain is to Portland by furnishing water for the dumb animals and birds to quench their thirst, as well as the great number of human beings who drink of the pure water which flows from this fountain.

Can we not agree on the dumb elk, portlandoregon.gov?

In 1900, the 3,000-pound bronze fountain was placed in a site that was a former feeding ground for elk that wandered down from the west hills of the city. The Exalted Order of Elks refused to dedicate it because they considered the statue “a monstrosity of art.” Many have tried to have Thompson’s elk removed because it can be considered a traffic obstacle, but the statue remains.

Looking South, Chapman Square remains fenced off after the Occupy Movement’s extended appreciation of the space