PORTLAND PLACES: Ankeny Square & Skidmore Fountain by Robert D. West

Ankeny Square & Skidmore Fountain

Ankeny Square today serves as a gateway to Portland's Old Town neighborhood, a National Historic District that is one of the oldest sections of Portland and contains many beautiful buildings of brick and cast iron from the late 1800s, the historic Skidmore Fountain and the Portland Saturday Market beneath the Burnside Bridge. This page includes links to historic photographs from the Salem Public Library's Oregon Historic Photograph Collections and Thomas Robinson's Historic Photo Archive at HistoricPhotoArchive.com and HistoricPhotoArchive.net.

Ankeny Square was once Vine Street, a short street only 200 feet long connecting Front Avenue (now Naito Parkway) and First Avenue. The short street appeared to be a small square, surrounded by buildings of brick and cast iron, which started replacing Portland's early wood-framed buildings in the 1860s. Prefabricated cast-iron pieces could be erected quickly and by fewer workers than other construction materials of the time, and cast iron storefronts had narrow columns to let more natural light into buildings than the more massive brick fronts could.

On the north side of Vine Street was the Bank of British Columbia, which was built in 1868 and occupied part of what is now Ankeny Square. On the south side was the Ankeny Block, built in 1869 by Captain Alexander P. Ankeny (1813-1891), an early developer who built numerous buildings of brick and cast iron in Portland. It was the largest brick building in Oregon when completed.

Across First Avenue to the west was the New Market Theater, built in 1872. A north wing was added in 1873, where Wells Fargo & Company operated from 1873 to 1894, and where the American Telephone and District Telegraph Company opened Portland's first telephone exchange on August 2, 1878. The Pioneer Switchboard had 5 operators handling calls for 32 customers. To the east across Front Avenue was the Cook Building, built in 1882.

Historical Photos:

New Market Block, May 13, 1962 (Salem Public Library)

When Stephen C. Skidmore, a Portland druggist and city councilman, died on January 18, 1883, he left $5,000 in his will for construction of a fountain. The fountain of bronze and granite was sculpted by Olin Warner at a cost of $18,000; the additional funds came from three of Skidmore's friends. It was completed in 1888. One of the inscriptions on the fountain,

A view of Vine Street from First Avenue during the flood of February 3, 1890. The Cook Building is in the background.

Oregon Historical Society Photograph

"Good citizens are the riches of a city," comes from the dedication speech given by attorney C.E.S. Wood, a member of the Fountain Committee. Another inscription reads: "Stephen C. Skidmore, a citizen of Portland who died January XVIII A.D. MDCCCLXXXIII gave this fountain to beautify and bless his adopted home." The fountain was originally intended as a watering hole, and for nearly two decades tin cups were attached to the lions' heads for people to drink from.

Historical Photos:

Skidmore Fountain, circa 1890 (Oregon Historical Society)

Skidmore Fountain, 1895 (Salem Public Library)

Skidmore Fountain, January 31, 1936 (HistoricPhotoArchive.com)

Skidmore Fountain, November 20, 1941 (Salem Public Library)

Skidmore Fountain in the 1940s (HistoricPhotoArchive.com)

Skidmore Fountain, May 13, 1962 (Salem Public Library)

Skidmore Fountain, 1994 (Salem Public Library)

The Packer-Scott Building, also known as the Skidmore Fountain Building, was built in 1890. As of 2008, it is being renovated to become the new home of Mercy Corps.

President Benjamin Harrison visited Portland in 1891. The presidential procession passed by the Skidmore Fountain, and reports of the day state the spectators crowded around the fountain at the procession passed.

As time went on and the cast iron buildings aged, some of them were demolished, such as the Bank of British Columbia building in 1920. The demolition pace increased starting in the 1940s, with improvements to Front Avenue and the construction of Harbor Drive on the waterfront. The Ankeny Block was demolished around 1940, the Cook Building in 1942 and the New Market Theater's North Wing in 1956. The Oregon Historical Society and the Portland Friends of Cast Iron Architecture managed to save some of the cast iron elements from these demolished buildings.

Construction of Portland's new Central Fire Station began in 1949, facing Front Avenue between Ash Street and Vine Street. Designed by Jones and Marsh Architects, it was completed in 1951. The dedication plaque named City Commissioner Kenneth L. Cooper and Bureau of Fire Chief Edward Grenfell.

In 1962, the Portland Junior Chamber of Commerce created a park on the site of the Bank of British Columbia Building and the vacated Vine Street, to enhance the surroundings of the Skidmore Fountain. On March 10, 1976, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the telephone, the Oregon Telephone Pioneers of Pacific Northwest Bell dedicated a plaque at the site of the New Market Theatre's North Wing, noting it as Portland's first telephone exchange.

The Portland Saturday Market was established in 1974, and in 1976 it moved under the west end of the Burnside Bridge near the Skidmore Fountain, where it remains today.

This vintage telephone kiosk is located at the Saturday Market MAX station under the Burnside Bridge. Though equipped with a modern pay phone, the kiosk itself appears to be very old. The receiver of the modern phone has been tagged with a label reading "THIS PHONE IS TAPPED," that is obviously not officially approved.

Near the Saturday Market MAX Station is a plaque bearing the following quote from J. E. Bud Clark, Mayor of Portland from 1985 to 1992:

Mayor J. E. Bud Clark

"The people of Portland are its greatest treasure.

"Portland's greatness is in the livability of its neighborhoods. It is the people who make sure that Portland is clean, safe and prosperous. Our city is a jewel on the banks of the Willamette River and cultural and trading hub of the Columbia Basin.

"If people hold fast to these priorities: family, business, and community, and if we are steadfast in preserving the quality of our environment, then Portland will remain one of the best places on Earth to live, to prosper, and to raise a new generation to carry on our traditions."

Next to Portland's Central Fire Station is the Jeff Morris Memorial Fire Museum, built in 1977 by the Friends of Jeff Morris Committee using public and private funds. Battalion Chief Jeff Morris pioneered fire prevention education in Portland until his death in 1974. The museum was dedicated in his memory in May 1986.

The front wall of the museum includes a bank vault door frame originally from the Ladd & Tilton Bank Building, which was at the southwest corner of First Avenue and Stark Street from 1868 to 1954. After the building was demolished, the exterior cast-iron elements were preserved, and were later used to enlarge Salem's similarly-styled Ladd & Bush Bank Building.

In 1978, the Skidmore/Old Town neighborhood was designated a National Landmark Historic District, and the Portland Development Commission built Ankeny Arcade on the site of the old Ankeny Block, using cast iron elements saved from demolished buildings. the arcade was dedicated to the memory of Captain Ankeny.

In 1984, the Bureau of Parks and Recreation redesigned the park created in 1962 for use as additional space for the Portland Saturday Market, which has been held under the Burnside Bridge since 1976, and named it Ankeny Square.

That same year, a colonnade consisting of cast-iron components salvaged from the North Wing of the New Market Theater by the Portland Friends of Cast Iron Architecture was erected on the site of the original building.

This archway consists of cast iron elements from the Smith & Watson Building, which stood at the northeast corner of First Avenue and Main Street from 1883 to 1974. The building was designed by architect Warren H. Williams and built by Charles E. and Ferdinand C. Smith and J. Frank Watson, owners of the Smith and Watson Iron Works, which began as a machine shop in 1865 and began making decorative and architectural ironwork by 1869, eventually becoming the largest iron works in Portland with 90 employees and operating until after 1890. The iron works supplied the cast iron its owners' building. After demolition, some of the cast iron components were saved by the Oregon Historical Society and the Portland Friends of Cast Iron Architecture. These components were used to construct this archway in 1986.

Historical Photos:

Night View of Ankeny Square & the Skidmore Fountain, 1988 (HistoricPhotoArchive.net)

Though not labeled, these columns along Front Avenue appear to have from the same building and erected at the same time as the archway.

Here are some photographs of other historic buildings in the Old Town neighborhood, in the vicinity of Ankeny Square and the Skidmore Fountain.

The Blagen Block at 30 NW First Avenue was built in 1888.

The Voleur Restaurant at 111 SW Ash Street occupies this historic building at the northwest corner of SW First Avenue and Ash Street.

These two buildings occupy the east side of the 100 block of SW First Avenue. The Railway Building on the left was built in 1872, and the Scottish Bank Building on the right was built in 1876. After a historic renovation, they were rededicated in 1993 by the Leuthold Family.

The Lombard Building at 220-228 SW First Avenue, also known as the Seuffert Building, was built in 1889.

The George Lawrence Building at 306 SW First Avenue was built in 1902.

The Failing Building at 235 SW First Avenue was built in 1886. It is now home to McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant.

The Delschneider Building at 71 SW Oak Street was built in 1859.

TriMet's MAX Light Rail runs down First Avenue, so Light Rail Vehicles, or LRVs, pass through often. A MAX stop is under the Burnside Bridge at Portland's Saturday Market, with another a few blocks to the south at Oak Street. These photos show MAX LRVs in the area.