Daniel Lownsdale (1803–1862) was one of the founders of

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, United States. Coming from

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

sometime before 1845, Lownsdale established the first

tannery Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

near the current location of

Providence Park Providence Park (formerly Jeld-Wen Field; PGE Park; Civic Stadium; originally Multnomah Stadium; and from 1893 until the stadium was built, Multnomah Field) is an outdoor soccer venue located in the Goose Hollow neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. ...

just west of downtown.

Tanner Creek Tanner Creek is a small tributary of the Willamette River in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. Named after a tannery owned by one of the city's founders, it begins in what is now the Sylvan–Highlands neighborhood in the Tualatin Mountains ...

, which flowed by the site in the mid-19th century, was named after the tannery. Lownsdale served as a member of the

Provisional Legislature of Oregon The Provisional Legislature of Oregon was the single-chamber legislative body of the Provisional Government of Oregon. It served the Oregon Country of the Pacific Northwest of North America from 1843 until early 1849 at a time when no country had ...

in 1846.Oregon Legislators and Staff Guide, 1846 Regular Session (2nd Provisional)
Oregon State Archives. Retrieved on July 2, 2016. Lownsdale purchased the land that would become

downtown Portland Downtown Portland is the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found. ...

on September 22, 1848. He resurveyed Portland, keeping the small blocks (200 feet per side, 64 feet streets), and adding the contiguous park blocks. He became involved in a land dispute involving the authority of the laws from the

Provisional Government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...

with Josiah Lamberson Parrish. Lownsdale would defend the matter in court in a case that would make its way through the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

in '' Lownsdale v. Parrish'', 62 U.S. 290 (1858).''Lownsdale v. Parrish'', 62 U.S. 290 (1858). Lownsdale is buried in the

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 ceme ...

in Portland. Lownsdale Square is named after him.

References

External links

''History of Portland, Oregon, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches by Harvey Whitefield Scott''
at

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1803 births 1862 deaths Members of the Provisional Government of Oregon Politicians from Portland, Oregon Place of birth missing Burials at Lone Fir Cemetery {{Oregon-bio-stub