Peninsula Park bears the imprint of the history of Portland and its transformation from a rough-and-tumble Northwest trading center of timber, minerals, fish, furs, and itinerant sailors to a modern city of commerce, arts, culture, parks, and residential neighborhoods of all types. The Friends’ History Project has implemented a series of temporary educational signs that explain more details about often overlooked aspects of the history of the park.

Students from PSU’s Urban History department researched, wrote, and produced this zine, which covers the lesser known era of the Park, from the 1960s through 2022.

In collaboration with several urban historians, we have gathered together a number of important oral histories from neighbors, Park employees, and others. These histories are available to local historians, researchers, writers, and others who are working on some aspect of Peninsula Park, Portland Parks, Portland, or related topics.