Mount Tabor, Portland, Oregon
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Mount Tabor is the name of an extinct volcanic cinder cone, the city park on the volcano, and the neighborhood of Southeast Portland that surrounds it, all in the U.S. state of Oregon. The name refers to Mount Tabor, Israel. It was named by Plympton Kelly, son of Oregon City pioneer resident Clinton Kelly.[1]
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[edit] The cinder cone
The peak of Mount Tabor is 630 ft (192 m) in elevation,[2] about two-thirds of this is prominence since the surrounding land is about 200 ft (60 m) elevation.[3]
Near the peak, where a basketball court and outdoor amphitheater are now situated, part of the cinder cone has been cut away, and is visible to park visitors. The remaining cinders were used to pave the nearby parking lot.
The Tabor cinder cone is part of the Boring Lava Field, an extensive network of cinder cones and small shield volcanoes ranging from Boring, Oregon to southwest Washington, and dating to the Plio-Pleistocene era. Three other cinder cones from this field also lie within the city of Portland: Rocky Butte, Powell Butte and Kelly Butte.
Portland is one of two major Oregon cities to have extinct volcanoes within their boundaries; the other is Bend, with Pilot Butte. The volcanic nature of Mount Tabor became known in 1912, years after it was included in a public park.[citation needed]
[edit] The park
196-acre (0.79-km²) Mount Tabor Park, established in 1909, is known for its reservoirs, three of which were accepted to the National Register of Historic Places in January 2004. The park was designed, along with other Portland parks, by the Olmsted Brothers.[4] Its elevation and central location relative to the city of Portland made this an ideal place for the city to house a water supply from the Bull Run Reservoir.
The Mount Tabor reservoirs were built during the period of 1894 and 1911, along with reservoirs in Washington Park. The reservoirs and their gatehouses are artistically constructed, incorporating extensive stonework and wrought-iron. There were initially four above-ground reservoirs, numbered 1, 2, 5, and 6. (Reservoirs 3 and 4 are at Washington Park, and Reservoir 7 is a small underground reservoir near Mount Tabor's summit.) Reservoir 2, on the corner of SE 60th and Division, was decommissioned in the 1980s, and the property was sold to a private developer. Its gatehouse remains, and is used as a private residence. Reservoir 6 is the largest, with two 37 million gallon chambers; it also contains a fountain, which was unused for many years, however it was reactivated in early 2007.[5]
Mount Tabor Park also features a Depression-era sculpture by Gutzon Borglum (of Mount Rushmore fame) representing Harvey W. Scott, an early editor of The Oregonian.[6]
[edit] The neighborhood
| Neighborhood representation | |
| Association | Mount Tabor Neighborhood Association |
| Coalition | Southeast Uplift Neighborhood Program |
| Neighborhood geography | |
| Area | 4.14 km² (PDF map) |
| Location | Interactive map |
| Demographics (2000) | |
| Population | 10037 (density 2424/km²) |
| Households | 4316 (96% occupied) |
| Owned | 2808 (65%) |
| Rented | 1508 (35%) |
| Size | 2.33 persons (average) |
| Race Distribution: White 84.6%, Asian 6.4%, Hispanic 3.5%, Black 1.3% | |
The Mount Tabor neighborhood lies between SE 49th Ave. (SE 50th Ave. south of SE Hawthorne Blvd.) on the west and SE 76th Ave. on the east, and between E Burnside St. on the north and SE Division St. on the south. It borders Sunnyside and Richmond on the west, the Center Neighborhood on the north and west, Montavilla on the north and east, and South Tabor on the south.
Mount Tabor Park is the neighborhood's principal feature. The campus of Warner Pacific College (affiliated with the Church of God (Anderson)) is located just south of the park. The neighborhood also marks the eastern end of the Hawthorne District.
Before becoming part of Portland in 1905, Mount Tabor was a rural farming community dating back to the 1850s. It became a city-recognized neighborhood (encompassing a far smaller area than its historical boundaries) in 1974.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ McArthur, Lewis A.; Lewis L. McArthur [1928] (2003). Oregon Geographic Names, Seventh Edition, Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. ISBN 0-87595-277-1 (trade paperback), ISBN 0-87595-278-X (hardcover).
- ^ Feature Detail Report ID 1136814: Mount Tabor Summit.
- ^ USGS topographic map centered at Mount Tabor.
- ^ The Olmsteds in the Pacific Northwest
- ^ Terpstra, Stan. "Old friend returns to Mount Tabor Park", The Southeast Examiner, December 2006.
- ^ Portland Parks & Recreation :: Mt Tabor Park
- ^ Mt Tabor Neighborhood Association - History: The early years of Mt. Tabor
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Mount Tabor Cinder Cone, Portland, Oregon (USGS Cascades Volcanic Observatory)
- Friends of the Reservoirs
- Friends of Mount Tabor, a non-profit group founded in 2000
- Mount Tabor: Architectural Heritage, 1850–1930 (by Jan Caplener)
- The early years of Mount Tabor (by Grant Nelson)
- Closeup of the crater, the half-circle next to the parking lot
- Audio from March '07 news story on KPOJ, about traffic on Mount Tabor
- Mount Tabor, Portland, Oregon is at coordinates Coordinates:
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