The daily Astorian., November 19, 2015, Image 22

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Submitted photo courtesy Clatsop County Historical Society
Indians perform a “war dance” at Shively Park for Astoria’s centennial celebration in 1911. The wooden amphitheater was
modeled on the University of California’s Greek Theater. The clear cut made for a good view from the park.
Faded Glory
M
of Shively Park
Once home to an impressive 12-acre “Centennial Park,” Astoria’s Shively Park has been neglected and reclaimed by forest
Photo by Dwight Caswell
Two picnic shelters still exist at the top of Shively Park.
 Story by DWIGHT CASWELL 
Submitted photo courtesy Clatsop County Historical Society
This postcard shows the grand opening of Astoria’s centennial at a stadium and amphitheater built for the celebration
and pattered after the University of California’s Greek Theater. The line of people at the top are standing on the road. The
wooden stairs and seats no longer exist.
Submitted photo courtesy Clatsop County Historical Society
This post card shows the raising of the centennial fl ag pole at the top of Shively Park. The picnic shelters still exist today.
12 | November 19, 2015 | coastweekend.com
My dog and I enjoy our walks in Shively Park,
during which we may not meet another soul. Hid-
den behind one of Astoria’s reservoirs, off the road
to the dump, Shively Park seems forgotten.
)rom the parking lot, we walk up a long À ight
of concrete steps that take us to nothing more than
a set of children’s swings. The park sits on a ridge;
at the top we ¿ nd what appears to be the remains of
a formal garden. More elegant steps end at no par-
ticular place. I wonder, where had they once led?
When I looked into that question, I expected
to ¿ nd a prosaic answer. I found instead Astoria’s
equivalent of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park,
and a sad story of neglect and abandonment.
In 1844, John Shively settled on a land claim
in Astoria and laid out a substantial portion of
present-day Astoria. In 1846 he was appointed the
¿ rst postmaster of Astoria, and at various times he
served as Justice of the Peace and Clatsop Coun-
ty surveyor and road commissioner. In 1899, six
years after his death, the park was named for him.
The new park had a broad vista, enhanced by
a clear-cut, of Youngs River and the mouth of the
Columbia. The view no longer exists, but it was a
major factor in the park’s selection as the primary
location for Astoria’s 1911 Centennial Celebration.
Encompassing 12 acres, the park was large enough
for the features needed for the “Centennial Park.”
Exhibit halls at Shively Park? Indeed, designed
by the young, accomplished architect John E.
Wicks. There were also a stadium and amphithe-
ater (patterned after the University of California’s
Greek Theater), an Indian Village, a full-scale
replica of Fort Astoria, and gardens designed by
Arthur L. Peck, founder of Oregon State Universi-
ty’s Landscape Architecture School.
Peck designed the park so that the ¿ rst thing
to strike a visitor was the fort, complete with the
“forest primeval” backdrop that had been replanted
behind it. Once through the forest, one came upon
the exhibition halls, the extraordinary view, and
naturalistic plantings of exotic species like purple
beech and mountain ash.
“Where did it all go?” you may be asking your-
self. Therein lies a story of construction on a tight
budget and of later neglect, but ¿ rst let me tell you
something of the glory days of Shively Park.
In the years leading up to the centennial, Asto-
ria was full of itself. It was a place of destiny, and
the festivities were designed to reÀ ect that and to
bring others to Astoria to ful¿ ll that destiny. One
hundred years later, the bicentennial was fun, but
by comparison it was a celebration of the past by
a town content to slip quietly into its third century.
1911, though, that was something. Track and
¿ eld world records were attempted in the new sta-
dium, beneath the world’s tallest À agpole. There
were speedboat races on the Columbia River, and
Glenn Curtiss brought his revolutionary seaplane to
the aviation meet. Feather-bedecked Indians (Yaka-
ma and Nez Perce, but not local Native Americans)
emerged from un-Northwestern tepees to perform
“war dances” at their village or the amphitheater.
Historical plays were presented (with white boys in
Submitted photo courtesy Clatsop County Historical Society
At the turn of the 19th century, Shively Park had a broad vista, enhanced by a recent clear-cut, of Youngs River. The view no longer exists, but
it was a major factor in the park’s selection as the primary location for Astoria’s 1911 Centennial Celebration. This post card shows the front of
Centennial Exhibit Hall, which was located below Centennial Park (Shively Park) above Youngs Bay. In the background, you can see Youngs River
Indian redface) and exhibits from around the nation
crowded the two large halls.
The centennial lasted 30 exhausting days. Then
began the slow decline of Shively Park. The build-
ings designed by Wicks were essentially long barns
behind impressive facades, wood framed and built
no better than necessary. The amphitheater looked
like the Greek Theater, but it was wood, not stone,
as were the stadium seats. Even with constant at-
tention, preservation would have been dif¿ cult.
Instead, they received neglect; the forest eventu-
ally eradicated all structures but the picnic shelters.
The replica fort was turned over to the Boy Scouts in
1917, but it was deemed unsafe and torn down three
years later. For a while there was a small zoo, but it
was closed after poachers shot the captive deer.
Something of the past may still be seen. A few
of Peck’s trees remain among the regrown forest.
The stairs that now lead to play equipment once led
to Fort Astoria. Walk along the road on the right of
the park, and you will see an enigmatic portal with
the inscription “Weinhard • Astoria,” all that is left
of the hotel of that name, destroyed in the 1922
¿ re. It was placed there as a “portal to the past.”
Follow the road and you come across stairs
leading toward the road. They don’t reach because
the road has been regraded. Farther on you ¿ nd
more stairs. These stairways once led to the stadi-
um and amphitheater to your right, where there is
dense forest today. Continue to the far end of the
park, as it exists today, and to your left are more
stairs. Go up them and you will see what is left
of some of Peck’s plantings. Turn to look down
the stairs and across the road. That was the site of
the Indian Village, and there the city plans to lease
land for a 150-foot-tall cellphone tower.
Once the heart of a vibrant young city, Shively
Park may soon have a monument to modern com-
munity as de¿ ned by the Internet. Today we inter-
face through devices that preclude actual contact
Photo by Dwight Caswell
Photo by Dwight Caswell
The entrance arch was all that remained of the Weinhard Astoria Ho-
tel after the 1922 downtown Astoria fi re. The arch was relocated to
Shively Park and still stands.
Today’s Shively Park boasts stairs that seemingly lead to nowhere,
though a closer look reveals that they lead into the the park’s past.
with other human beings, and there is no better
monument to this community of isolated individu-
als than a cellphone tower. There can be few better
ways to discourage people from visiting a park.
There must be a better way. Is the current gen-
eration less forward-thinking than that of a centu-
ry ago? If the city decides that a tower is appropri-
ate, must it be ugly? Could a modern Eiffel design
a better tower? Could the county arts council use it
to display public art? Is mitigation even possible?
Historic preservation is a byword in Astoria,
but it has been limited, for the most part, to indi-
viduals and commercial projects. Astoria is often
described as a small San Francisco, but we have
nothing like a park at the heart of the city. Perhaps,
if there is suf¿ cient public interest, Shively Park
will be restored, and once again be the jewel in
Astoria’s crown.
Thanks to Liisa Penner, Michael Wentworth, John Goodenberger,
and the Heritage Museum for assistance in researching this article.
November 19, 2015 | coastweekend.com | 13