All things have a beginning – – and so it was with the Portland Gateway sign and planting area at 22nd and Portland Avenue – known as the “Portland Gateway”.
ONCE UPON A TIME:
Back in 2006, when Portland Now Inc. (PNI) were trying to keep our streets and alleys clean, especially around the 22nd and Portland Avenue intersection, which gets so messy, we tried anything! We had blitzes. We had work parties. We put up yard signs. We gave prizes. We paid for a big dumpster that was full in half a day! One little woman, Mary Turner, wrote a grant proposal that Metro United Way
funded for beautification.
The thing that still stands as a reminder the Portland DOES CARE how it looks, is the sign and planting area at 22nd and Portland Avenue. So in 2006, we got a group of volunteers together to talk about this important corner and how it makes our neighborhood look – to residents and new-comers driving by.
We wanted this “Gateway” to the neighborhood to show Portland’s “heritage and sense of community” and to show this was a good place to call home or do business.
Architect Dan Church did an idea sketch (see below). And so the concept of a Portland Gateway was born!
The PNI committee headed by Gary Watrous, resident and architect, with the funding that Mary Turner won, hired an Engineering Firm, Heritage Engineering, LLC., headed by Bob Woosley Jr. to do a site plan.
The Committee and the Engineers discussed the need for the sign to be large and visible and seen from two directions – people coming off the Interstate and people stopped at the traffic light at 22nd St and Portland Ave. The sign need to say something about Portland being an important Historical neighborhood in Louisville and the date it was founded, 1811.
And so it was agreed, the sign should say “Welcome to Historic Portland, Founded in 1811” – – all below an image of a ship’s anchor – our neighborhood “mascot”.
So Rueff Signs of Louisville was hired to make the sign that was designed with the help of the Committee. Korfage Landscaping was hired to design and do the Landscape Plantings around the sign.
To make a long story short, by 2023, the sign needed a new coat of paint and the plantings had mostly all died. The proud Gateway now looked pretty bad.
Committee members Katy Delahanty, Gary Watrous and Danny Seim refurbished the sign, but new plantings were needed and that cost money.
So the Committee turned to our Metro Council Representative, Donna Purvis, who said she could donate $3,000 if PNI could match it. Thankfully, an anonymous donor stepped up to fill the bill.
The Committee contacted Operation Brightside, who did the planting triangle at 22nd and Owen St. Based on their recommendation, PNI hired Brownsboro Lawn Care to do the plantings and watering.
And so they did – – this Spring! (see photo below).
AND EVERYONE LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER.
PS. And now we have to maintain our neighborhood Showpiece! If you like gardening, please contact Judy Schroeder’s email: judys@iglou.com
