History of Gladstone Community Garden
and Meldrum Bar Park
Gladstone Community Garden at Meldrum Bar Park was begun in the early 1960s. Written history specific to exactly when and by whom the garden was established cannot be found. The Gladstone Community Gardening Association, the voluntary board that manages the five-acre property, leases the grounds from the City of Gladstone for one dollar per year.
The gardens and Meldrum Bar Park were the home to the Clackamas Chinook people for thousands of years before European settlers from the Eastern United States poured in to the Oregon Territory to take advantage of the excellent soils and mild climate of the Willamette Valley. The Clackamas people occupied numerous seasonal settlements along the Multnomah River (renamed by White settlers as the Willamette) and the Clackamas River. The confluence of these two rivers created an ideal environment for fishing, and the lowlands between them, where our gardens grow today, were certainly prime agricultural and foraging areas for these Indigenous peoples. The Clackamas were closely related to the Clowwewalla, who occupied the area surrounding Willamette Falls (which they called Tumwata) and there was much commerce and communication among them.
When the white settlers from the East began arriving in the 1840s, with unfamiliar diseases and alien ideas of land ownership, the Clackamas and their traditions were soon threatened. A series of treaties between these people and the United States eventually led to the removal of most native peoples to remote reservations. The Clackamas were assigned to the reservation of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde. But many descendants of these tribes still live among us in Gladstone and the surrounding communities.
The Cason and the Rinearson families were the first European settlers to claim land in what became Gladstone, in 1843. Peter M. Rinearson and his family claimed the land between today’s Jennings Lodge and the Clackamas River. John and Susanna Meldrum arrived in Oregon City in 1845 and eventually purchased a portion of the Rinearson land in 1871. In 1919, John Meldrum sold 39 acres of this land to his sister, Mary Thompson, wife of David P. Thompson, a prominent politician. Soon thereafter, Mary donated all 39 acres to the City of Gladstone as a memorial to the Meldrum family.
Throughout history, the Willamette River has frequently flooded. The largest flood in recorded history occurred in 1861. Other significant flooding occurred in 1890 and 1964. Since the establishment of the Gladstone Garden, major flooding occurred in late January and early February 1996, when the river rose more than 11 feet over Meldrum Bar Park and our gardens. The high-water mark, 11.5 feet, is indicated on a marker at the peak of the restrooms adjacent to the garden. A massive amount of debris covered the gardens, but one may conclude that the floodwaters contributed to the rich soil we enjoy today.
In the early 2000s, the Association installed the fencing that encloses the garden.
When we gardeners till our lots, sow our seeds, water our crops, and enjoy our harvests, we should remember those who tilled, sowed, and harvested before us, and recognize the very special place Gladstone Community Garden occupies in our landscape.
Sources: Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, Tribal Histories of the Willamette Valley.
Meldrum Bar Park
In 1845, John and Susanna Meldrum arrived in Oregon City as members of the Hackleman-Buck wagon train as early pioneers of present-day Gladstone.
The Meldrums first settled in Linn City, a town located directly across the Willamette River from Oregon City. They eventually settled in Oregon City. John was a stone cutter and served two terms as a judge. In 1871, John Meldrum purchased the northern half of the Peter Rinearson Donation Land Claim. After setting aside fifty acres for his personal use, on which he built a house and planted a flourishing orchard, he laid out a townsite on the remainder.
In 1919, about six months before his death, Judge Meldrum sold 39 acres of his land to his sister, Mrs. Mary Thompson, wife of David P. Thompson, Governor of Idaho, two-term mayor of Portland, Oregon, and minister to Turkey during the Harrison Administration. Soon afterwards, Mrs. Thompson announced in the Portland newspapers that she planned to dedicate all 39 acres as a public park in honor of her late parents, early pioneers in Oregon. Mrs. Thompson also noted that the land on which her parents’ current home stood was being sold and the house would be torn down. Her plan was to preserve the house's original rock foundation because each stone had been hand-chiseled and placed into position by her father. These foundation rocks were to be relocated to the park's entrance and formed into a new artistic gateway. Mrs. Thompson closed her announcement by saying that she "loved nature and did not want any of the large fir trees to be removed". She asked that the underbrush always be kept cleared and the grounds kept suitable for the enjoyment of all, and that her desire was for all the trees to remain undisturbed.
Courtesty of Gladstone Historical Society