Portland's Missing "Monstrosity"

Oregon Journal 2/5/1939

80 years ago, a stone monument, dedicated to Theodore Roosevelt and the memory of the Spanish American War, was moved from its home near the Hawthorne Bridge during a massive realignment of Front Avenue. What became of the monument remains a mystery and is subject to some speculation. With ongoing discussions about what to do with Portland's other Theodore Roosevelt statue (among others), and what seems like never ending work to realign and re-shape Naito Parkway (formerly Front Avenue), it seemed like a good time to take a look at this story and who knows? Maybe someone out there can shed new light on Portland's missing "Monstrosity".

The United Spanish War Veterans (USWV), a group founded by veterans of the Spanish-American War of 1898-1899 as well as veterans from the subsequent Philippine-American War of 1899-1902, began raising funds in the mid-1920s for a monument to honor the memory of those who fought in the wars and Theodore Roosevelt for the leadership role he played in both. Initially, the plan was to build a monument at Battle Rock in Port Orford on the southern Oregon coast, but when the decommissioned and much beloved Battleship Oregon was loaned by the Navy to the State of Oregon, with the intent of creating a museum in its honor, the focus for a new monument shifted to the Portland area.

In September 1938, the USWV held its annual convention in Portland. This created the opportunity to finally bring their dream to fruition. Not only did the USWV finally get a monument, they got an entire park on land just south of the Hawthorne Bridge. The Oregon was subsequently moored adjacent to the park after having spent several years near the east end of the Broadway Bridge. While in Portland, the USWV celebrated the 40th anniversary of the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, dedicating the new Battleship Oregon Memorial Park, while also joining with the City in renaming Belmont Park as Colonel Summers Park.

The USWV commissioned University of Oregon art professor and sculptor Oliver L. Barrett to create the monument for the new park. Barrett was well respected. A decade earlier he created the Rebecca at the Well sculpture that remains part of the Shemanski Fountain in Portland’s South Park Blocks.

Aerial view of Battleship Memorial Park c.1939, courtesy of Portland Archives & Records Center

Barrett completed the new monument project in early 1939. With a 14 foot tall statue on a stepped, circular base that added another 4 feet in height, the new sculpture was unlike anything else in conservative 1930s Portland. According to Barrett, the statue was never meant to look like Theodore Roosevelt or anyone, for that matter, but, was "an attempt to symbolize his indomitable spirit - fighting but constructive." On one side of the monument was an actual likeness of Roosevelt and an inscription that read "Our nation holds in its hands the fate of the coming years." Barrett's design held some similarities with the St. Julien Canadian Memorial from 1923. Barrett could have easily been familiar with this much larger monument in Belgium honoring Canadian soldiers from the First World War.

Postcard showing the completed Battleship Oregon Memorial Park in 1940 found here

In 1940, voters approved a massive plan to redevelop and realign Front Avenue, putting the new park in jeopardy, while the old battleship was moored nearby operating as a museum. Redevelopment of Front began in 1941. Knowing that the statue would have to be moved, even temporarily, those that didn't like it began talking about replacing the Roosevelt monument with a relocated Skidmore Fountain. Although mentioned on multiple occasions, the idea of relocating Skidmore Fountain did not get much support in City Hall. Over the summer of 1941, nearby buildings along Front Avenue, like the turreted Witch Hazel which stood at Front and Madison near the foot of the Hawthorne Bridge, were taken down as part of the redevelopment project. And by early November 1941, less than three years after it was installed, workers had dismantled the park and begun preparing to move the Roosevelt monument.

Promotional pamphlet for Front Avenue redevelopment project, 1940. Courtesy of Dan Haneckow.

Editorial from The Oregonian 10/20/1941

Newspaper accounts note that the plan was to store that monument (sans its stepped base) in the City's Stanton Street warehouse until such time that a new home could be procured. Workers were pictured prepping the statue for relocation, but by all accounts it either never made it to the warehouse or was disposed of from that location at a later date. It's not until 1972, that the monument get some attention again in an Oregonian article that tried to shed some light on the subject, but ultimately leaves one wondering. Today, the Portland Police Memorial in Waterfront Park lies very near where the Roosevelt monument once stood.

Oregonian 11/6/1941

It is entirely possible that the missing monument lies in pieces underneath Naito Parkway or that portion of Waterfront Park that is adjacent to the Hawthorne Bridge. It could also have ended up somewhere else, but we may never know. Barrett likely knew what happened, but he died suddenly in 1943 at the age of 50.

Meanwhile, the Battleship Oregon was partially dismantled then repurposed as an ammunition barge during the Second World War, before it was finally scrapped in 1956. That same year, the ship's mast became a memorial in what is now Waterfront Park. The museum that for a time operated out of the old battleship, relocated to a house at Northeast 12th & Clackamas Street. When the house was demolished for the construction of Lloyd Center, the museum folded and its collection was donated to the Oregon Historical Society. There is still an effort ongoing to save the original smokestacks and anchor from from the ship.

For more on the story of the missing monument, there are a few other stories online:

Here's one from OregonLive and one from Cafe Unknown