Portland is famous for thinking big about nature, but its most charming park fits inside a circle just two feet wide. Mill Ends Park, a single tree growing in the median of SW Naito Parkway downtown, covers only 452 square inches – yet in 1971 the Guinness Book of Records named it the smallest park in the world.
Its story is pure Portland whimsy. In 1946, Oregon Journal columnist Dick Fagan spotted an unused hole in the median outside his office, planted flowers in it and named it after his column, Mill Ends. The tiny park was dedicated on St. Patrick’s Day 1948 and became an official city park on St. Patrick’s Day 1976.
Fagan filled his column with tales of the park’s leprechaun colony – the only one west of Ireland, he claimed – led by Patrick O’Toole. Over the years the park has received gifts worthy of its legend: a miniature swimming pool with a diving board for butterflies, tiny statues and even a mini Ferris wheel delivered by a full-size crane. Portland Parks reinstalled it in its median home in January 2022.
Seeing it takes about five happy minutes from the Naito Parkway sidewalk, it is free, and it pairs perfectly with a stroll through nearby Tom McCall Waterfront Park. Small park, enormous smile.
Photo: daveynin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
