Lone Fir Cemetery

Lone Fir Cemetery in the southeast section of Portland, Oregon, United States is a cemetery owned and maintained by Metro, a regional government entity. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the first burial was in 1846 with the cemetery established in 1855. Lone Fir has over 25,000 burials spread over more than 30 acres (120,000 m2).

Lone Fir Cemetery
MacLeay family mausoleum
Details
Established1855
Location
Portland, Oregon
CountryUnited States
Coordinates45°31′05″N 122°38′32″W
TypePublic
Owned byMetro
Size30.5 acres (12.3 ha)
No. of graves25,000+
Websiteofficial site
Portland Historic Landmark[1]
Location2115 SE Morrison Street
Portland, Oregon
Architectural styleLate Gothic Revival
NRHP reference No.07000824
Added to NRHPAugust 16, 2007

History

19th and 20th centuries
Grave of James B. and Elizabeth Stephens, donors of the land

The original land owner, James B. Stephens, purchased a land claim extending from the east bank of the Willamette River to present day Southeast 23rd and from Stark Street to Division Street. J. B. Stephens' father Emmor Stephens died shortly after the Stephens family arrived to Oregon in 1846 and was buried on the family farm. In 1854, Stephens sold the land to Colburn Barrell, with the caveat that he maintain Emmor's gravesite.[2] Barrell owned a steamboat the Gazelle, which in 1854 exploded near Oregon City, killing a passenger and Barrell's business partner Crawford Dobbins.[2] Barrel then set up a cemetery by setting aside 10 acres (40,000 m2) and burying the casualties of the explosion at the site of Emmor Stephens, calling it Mt. Crawford.[2]

Plots at the cemetery were then sold for $10 with 20 acres (81,000 m2) additional being added to Lone Fir by 1866.[2] That year Barrel offered to sell the cemetery to the city of Portland for $4,000, but the city declined and instead Barrell sold it to a group of Portland families and plotholders.[2] The cemetery was then renamed the cemetery to Lone Fir, which was suggested by Colburn Barrell's wife, Aurelia, as there was only a single fir tree at the site.[2]

In 1903, a $3,500 memorial to the soldiers of the Indian Wars, Mexican–American War, the American Civil War, and the Spanish–American War was built at the cemetery.[3] The Soldier's Monument was paid for by donations by over 500 citizens.[3] Then in 1928 Multnomah County took over control and maintenance of Lone Fir.[3] In 1947 the county paved part of the cemetery and later constructed a building on the site.[4] This was the location of many Chinese graves, which were removed the next year.[4]

21st century

In 2004 it was discovered that more graves of Chinese persons likely remained at the site.[4] In 2005 city leaders proposed removing the government building that was constructed over the graves of these Chinese immigrants and re-connecting that portion with the main cemetery;[5] it was removed in August 2007.[6] In January 2007 Metro took over control of this section of the cemetery after a transfer from the county.[7] On August 16, 2007, the cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places.[8]

Currently the cemetery is located between Stark Street on the north and Morrison Street to the south, with Southeast 20th Avenue bounding on the west and Southeast 26th on the east.[2] Lone Fir covers 30.5 acres (123,000 m2) and has over 25,000 graves, with over 10,000 of those unknown due to poor maintenance.[2] It is home to the Pioneer Rose Garden.[9]

Notable burials

The cemetery is the resting place for several former mayors of the city, as well as other politicians and famous citizens.[10][11]

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See also

References
  1. Portland Historic Landmarks Commission (July 2014), Historic Landmarks -- Portland, Oregon (XLS), retrieved August 12, 2014.
  2. Metro. "Friends of Lone Fir". Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  3. A Brief History of Lone Fir Cemetery. Multnomah County. Retrieved on March 2, 2008. Archived October 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Parking lot may lie atop cemetery". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Associated Press. 2004-11-18. Retrieved 2003-03-02.
  5. Leaders push plan to fix historic Lone Fir cemetery. Portland Online. Retrieved on March 2, 2008.
  6. Nakamura, Motoya (August 16, 2005). "Demolition begins new chapter at Morrison Building site". The Oregonian.
  7. Oppenheimer, Laura. Metro takes over lost, historic section of Lone Fir cemetery. The Oregonian, January 5, 2007.
  8. Register of Historic Places: National Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 8/13/07-8/17/07, registry number 07000824. National Park Service. Retrieved on August 31, 2007.
  9. History in bloom. The Oregonian, May 24, 2007.
  10. Kestenbaum, Lawrence (2008-06-16). "Multnomah County, Oregon". The Political Graveyard. Ann Arbor. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  11. Some Interesting Burial Facts. Archived 2007-09-10 at the Wayback Machine Lone Fir Cemetery. Retrieved on March 2, 2008.
  12. "Obituary: Alma Francis Fields". The Oregonian. Portland, Oregon. August 23, 1968. p. 1.
  13. "Search cemetery records". Metro Regional Government. 2009. Retrieved August 3, 2009.
  14. Marshall, Mary Louise (1958). "Book Review: Women Doctors of the World by Esther Pohl Lovejoy (1957)". Bulletin of the Medical Library Association. 46 (1): 139–140. PMC 200230.
  15. Jensen, Kimberly. "Esther Clayson Pohl Lovejoy (1869-1967)". The Oregon Encyclopedia. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  16. https://www.theskanner.com/news/politics/15133-a-headstone-for-hattie-redmond-commemorates-100-years-of-womens-suffrage-2012-07-23
  17. "Lieut. William Spencer Newbury". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2014-12-28.
  18. "Redmond, Harriet (1862-1952) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed". The Black Past. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
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