Linnton Greenway River Trail progresses – locals commission sculpture by Ivan McClean

By Ed Jones, of Linnton Neighborhood Association

Decades ago, Portland created a Greenway along the Willamette. It wasn’t funded, but it required riverfront landowners to pay for the building of the Greenway if and when they developed their property. There are now miles of Greenway, mostly in Southwest and Southeast Portland.  

In the North Reach there were few pieces of property, even decades ago, where the riverfront wasn’t already concrete. One of those few places was in Linnton, just north of the old plywood mill. The Greenway maps showed a spur reaching down to the river at a 107th and then north along the river to the Kinder Morgan tank farm.

In 1998 the property owner of part of the path that ran north negotiated an easement with the city which described the path from 107th halfway to Kinder Morgan’s property. Nothing was built, but the plan was made. 

Years passed and finally the mill was torn down and the habitat project built on the site. Because of the Greenway designation, the project had to include the first piece of the trail. It exists now and reaches down to the river along the north edge of the habitat project.

A Covid era funding opportunity was taken advantage of by clever Linntonites and money was granted to build the next part of the trail. There was, however, a lack of cooperation from the city and the property owner which led to litigation. Good lawyers (and a righteous claim) led to a successful result.

Now the path is close to construction and questions arise about what it will look like and what will be at the end of it.. What it will look like depends on how much money is left in the budget (those lawyers aren’t cheap!) but we have an idea of what there will be at the end.

Linnton is home to a world class sculptor, Ivan McLean. Google will reveal his work and his talent. He has agreed to design and build a sculpture to serve as a focal point for the project. Ed Jones and Jenny Cooke have agreed to support Ivan’s work by funding the project. Once the landscape team is in place, Ivan will work with them to create an end of the trail worth walking down to.