University Park is a neighborhood in the north section 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 ...

on the east shore of the

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...

. University Park is bounded by North Lombard Street and the Portsmouth neighborhood to the north, North Chautauqua Boulevard and the Arbor Lodge neighborhood to the east, The

and Mock's Bottom industrial area to the south, and the North Portland railroad cut with Cathedral Park and St. Johns neighborhoods to the west. The neighborhood shares its name with a North Portland park in the adjacent Portsmouth neighborhood, land for which was acquired in 1953. University Park is home to Portland's largest mixed-race population, making up 7.49% of its population.

History

Proposed site for Lewis & Clark Centennial Exposition, University Park

University Park was named for its proximity to the former

Portland University Portland University was a private, Methodist post-secondary school in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1891 in a split from Willamette University, the school closed in 1900. The campus was located in what is now the University Park ne ...

, a Methodist institution founded in 1891. Property of 71 acres for the university and roughly 530 acres for the surrounding neighborhood was platted from land owned by pioneer families and sold at half-value to the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...

, then owners of

Willamette University Willamette University is a private liberal arts college with locations in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United States. Originally named the Oregon Institute, the school was an unaffiliated ...

in Salem. The church planned to sell individual lots through a realty company in University Park to finance the university, but home site sales did not sustain the institution. A financial failure for most of its brief existence, the university closed in 1900. After Portland University closed, the land and buildings were purchased by the

Archdiocese of Portland The Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon (''Archidioecesis Portlandensis in Oregonia'') is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It encompasses the western part of the state of Oregon, from the s ...

in 1901, and Columbia University opened on the site, later renamed the

University of Portland , mottoeng = The truth will set you free , established = 1901 , type = Private university , religious_affiliation = Catholic (Congregation of Holy Cross) , endowment = $218 million , president = Robert D. Kelly , students = 3,731 (fall 20 ...

. Public transportation was installed, and industry began to develop in the area. As designers of University Park, Methodist Episcopal officials aligned streets along a northeastsouthwest axis and a northwestsoutheast axis in order to maximize exposure to sunlight. Church officials also chose street names in remembrance not only of institutions of higher learning but also persons and places important to Methodists of the time. As a result, University Park is a neighborhood without an ordinal relationship among streets; therefore, navigation requires knowledge of all streets.For example, Portland's Alphabet District has numbered avenues along a northsouth axis and alphabetized streets along an eastwest axis that form a grid where navigation only requires knowledge of the order of numbers and letters.

Features

Chiles Center The Earle A. & Virginia H. Chiles Center is a 4,852-seat multi-purpose arena in Portland, Oregon, USA. The arena opened in 1984. It is home to the University of Portland Pilots men's and women's basketball teams as well as the women's volleyball ...

*Columbia Park Annex *

Joe Etzel Field Joe Etzel Field is a 1,300 seat baseball stadium in Portland, Oregon that is home to the University of Portland Pilots baseball team. Originally named Pilot Field, it was renamed after former coach Joe Etzel in 2004. Completed in 2005, the An ...

*Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center *

McKenna Park McKenna Park is a public park in the University Park neighborhood 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 Willamett ...

Merlo Field Harry A. Merlo Field at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex is a 4,892-capacity soccer-specific stadium in Portland, Oregon on the campus of the University of Portland where it serves as home to the school's soccer teams. From March 29, 2015 until th ...

*Portsmouth Park

References

External links

Map of University Park streets and boundaries
a downloadable PDF file from the City of Portland
University Park Street Tree Inventory Report
{{Portland neighborhoods Neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon