• McLoughlin Promenade Grand Staircase - Oregon City OR
    Oregon City's Grand Staircase links the historic center with the town's premier park located on a bluff 100-feet above it. Completed in 1939, the stone and cement pathway replaced an old wooden stairway in approximately the same location. Skilled and unskilled Works Progress Administration workers provided the labor for this feature of McLoughlin Promenade. Several aspects of the Grand Staircase make it distinctive. Workers cut a new pathway into the basalt bluff for the staircase. Natural landscaping and a man-made waterfall adjacent to the stairway enhanced the public amenity. Those aspects of the Grand Staircase's design established it as a safe,...
  • McLoughlin Promenade Walkway - Oregon City OR
    In 1851, Dr. John McLoughlin formally platted Oregon City reserving land along the city's prominent bluff for use as a park and naming that public amenity the Promenade. For decades, the Promenade's minimally improved walkway provided a view of the city's downtown, nearby neighborhoods, and rivers. That changed in 1936 when plans were made to improve the Promenade using skilled and unskilled Works Progress Administration workers. The plans involved three related projects: a stone and concrete pathway, the Grand Staircase, and Singer Falls. John L. Franzen, Oregon City's city manager and a registered engineer, designed all three integrated projects. The stone and...
  • McLoughlin Promenade's Singer Hill Creek Falls - Oregon City OR
    Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers began construction of the Singer Hill Creek Falls landscape feature in May 1936. Oregon City manager J L Franzen designed the series of five waterfalls as part of improvements to the McLoughlin Promenade. WPA funding was $2500 for the combined waterfall project and the Promenade Staircase. Dropping from the Oregon City bluff at Eighth Street, Singer Creek falls into a series of twenty foot wide pools. Four of the pools create a ten foot drop while the fifth drops twelve feet. WPA masons used stone quarried locally encased in cement to create the park's water feature. This...