Multnomah Greyhound Park is a former dog track located in Wood Village, Oregon, part of the

Portland metropolitan area The Portland metropolitan area is a metro area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered on the principal city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) identifies it as the Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, ...

. The park opened in 1957 and closed in 2004. After standing empty and disused for almost 12 years, the buildings at the site were demolished in summer 2016.

History

Greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

in the

began in 1933, organized by the Multnomah Kennel Club (MKC) and held at Multnomah Stadium (now

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. ...

). In 1956, dog racing moved to

Portland Meadows Portland Meadows was an American horse racing venue in Portland, Oregon, owned by The Stronach Group since July 3, 2011 and previously owned by Magna Entertainment Corp., MI Developments Inc. (MID) 2001. Built by William P. Kyne, who also built ...

, after the stadium's owners notified MKC that the club would have to find a new venue, to make room at the stadium for the

Portland Beavers The Portland Beavers was the name of separate minor league baseball teams, which represented Portland, Oregon, in the Pacific Coast League (PCL). The team was established in 1903, the first year of the PCL. Franchise history Many baseball teams ...

baseball team, which was set to relocate from

Vaughn Street Park Vaughn Street Park was a baseball park in the northwest United States, located in Portland, Oregon. Opened in 1901, it lasted for over a half century and was torn down in 1956. Its primary tenant was the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast ...

. Greyhound races were only held at Portland Meadows – which was primarily a

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

track – for one season, the 1956 season (Aug. 13–Oct. 17, 1956). In January 1956, MKC purchased a site in Wood Village, Oregon, with plans to build a new dog track and stadium there. The new dedicated greyhound racing track opened in 1957 and was originally named Fairview Park, but in 1978 it was renamed Murray Kemp Greyhound Park in honor of MKC's founder and longtime president. In 1991, the name was changed to Multnomah Greyhound Park. 1987 would mark the track's record season for attendance with 611,430; after the 1987 season the Multnomah Kennel Club would claim that greyhound racing was "the number one spectator sport in the state." Throughout the 1990s, the track's attendance would continue on a steady decline. In December 2004, the track's owner, Magna Entertainment, refused to renew their lease on the building. This would mark the end of use for Multnomah Greyhound Park and the end of greyhound racing in Oregon. The track would go to great lengths to try to ensure that all remaining greyhounds were adopted and sold for an average of $175 each to avoid greyhound homelessness. Within months of the park's closure, two businessmen from

Lake Oswego Lake Oswego () is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon, primarily in Clackamas County, with small portions extending into neighboring Multnomah and Washington counties. Located about south of Portland and surrounding the Oswego Lake, the town w ...

proposed a $490-million casino and entertainment complex to be built on the site. A ballot measure to authorize the plan was defeated in 2010 with 68 percent of voters opposed. Two ballot measures (Measures 82 and 83) which would have allowed building of a casino at the park were both soundly defeated in November 2012. In October 2015, "the Grand Ronde tribal confederation announced it was purchasing the defunct greyhound racetrack in Wood Village, sparking new speculation about whether a casino could end up on the site." The purchase by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon was completed in December 2015. What type of redevelopment will take place on the property has not been decided, but demolition of the then-existing buildings began at the end of June 2016.

The track

The track's max capacity was 18,760 people with a seating capacity of 6,064. The track's length was and was made of sand from the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

. The kennel area had a maximum capacity of 840

greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurge ...

Other uses

Team Oregon Team Oregon Motorcycle Safety Program, known as Team Oregon, is an American, Oregon-based motorcycle safety partnership between the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and Oregon State University. Alternate URLKATU: Oregon Motorcycle Fatalit ...

conducts

motorcycle safety Motorcycle safety is the study of the risks and dangers of motorcycling, and the approaches to mitigate that risk, focusing on motorcycle design, road design and traffic rules, rider training, and the cultural attitudes of motorcyclists and other r ...

training in a portion of the parking lot and the former kennels.

References

{{Authority control Sports venues in Portland, Oregon Buildings and structures in Multnomah County, Oregon Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United States Sports venues completed in 1957 1957 establishments in Oregon 2004 disestablishments in Oregon Buildings and structures demolished in 2016

History

The track

Other uses

See also

References