The Wicked Backstory of the Rose Garden

No, this is not the usual, polite, flower-sniffing stroll. This is the other tour.

Tucked amongst the Portland Rose Garden’s flower beds is a surprisingly wild story of Portland ambition, social climbing, real-estate schemes, queer courage, suffrage fights, and extremely serious men in extremely strange white suits.

We’ll move through the garden stop by stop, looking at how a rough-edged logging town managed to turn roses into one of its great civic symbols. The official story is fragrant and charming. The real story is messier, funnier, thornier, and much more interesting.

Please bring a fully charged mobile phone. It will be your key to the interactive version of the tour, with vintage photos, historic images, explanatory graphics, and visual proof that the rose garden’s past is every bit as strange as advertised.

The Stats:
Meeting Point Location: Rose Garden Visitor Center
Meeting Point Address: 400 SW Kingston Ave, Portland, OR 97205
Google Maps Meeting Point
Hike Distance: Approximately One Mile
Elevation gain: 100 feet
Estimated time: 2 hours
Physical Difficulty level: Very Easy
Bathrooms at the Rose Garden Visitor Center

Parking:
It’s a June summer day in Washington Park, so parking will be tight. Plan on arriving early to give yourself lots of time to get there.
Best way to get there: take the Max Train, then catch the Washington Park shuttle to the Rose Garden.
Parking lots within walking distance: Sherwood Parking Lot (7 Minute walk, but small), SW Kingston Ave.
Parking Options that connect to the Washington Park Shuttle: Veteran’s Parking Lot, Parking Lot B, Parking Lot C, Washington Park Max Station Lot
Street Parking: SW Wright Ave, SW Tichner Dr., SW Marconi Ave., SW Park Place