Lotus Isle Park
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Hikes to this destination:
- Hayden Bay Loop Hike (TH | <— —> | LOG)
- Weather forecast: NWS/NOAA
- Maps: Oregon Hikers Maps Google Maps
- Latitude, Longitude: 45.6064, -122.6738
- Elevation: 15 feet
Description
Lotus Isle Park is near the former entrance to what was, for a brief period, Portland's largest amusement park. There's a play area here and a paved path that leads out on a small peninsula shaded by pines and cottonwoods. From, here you can get vistas to the floating homes of North Portland Harbor.
The remains of a trestle can be seen from the east side of the promontory. The trestle once supported the street car line to Lotus Isle, Portland’s largest amusement park. The street car came to the entrance of the amusement park, where the floating home parking lot now is. East of here on Tomahawk Island was the glittering attraction of Lotus Isle, with its 100-foot neon Eiffel Tower, a “scenic” mountain railroad, the oriental-style Peacock Ballroom, a bulldog-themed bumper car structure, a wooden roller coaster, and a bath house.
Lotus Isle, which had competition from another amusement park across the way in Jantzen Beach, only lasted from 1930 – 32 and the final nail in the coffin was when Tusko, the park’s large and ornery bull elephant got buzzed by a stunt plane, broke his chains, and ran amok, destroying several buildings (This only added to Tusko’s criminal record as he had previously stampeded through Sedro Woolley, Washington, on another rampage).
More Links
- Lotus Isle Park (Portland Parks & Recreation)
- Lotus Isle (PdxHistory.com)
- Lotus Isle, Oregon’s most surreal amusement park, was a shakedown gone wrong (McKenzie River Reflections)
- Tusko the elephant rampages through Sedro-Woolley on May 15, 1922 (HistoryLink)
Contributors
- bobcat (creator)