Update Feb. 28, 2025: A new park in Japan has now taken the title of the world's smallest. Read more here.
This year brought grim news in the local media world so today, here’s the story of a delightful monument to a local journalist and the fun he had.
I’ll grant you this park is tiny. Mill Ends Park is just 2 feet across — or, in the usual measurement of parks, it’s just over seven ten-thousandths of an acre. Your dining room table is probably bigger; so is your bathroom, and possibly your desk.
But Mill Ends Park is so small that it’s big; it holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s smallest park.
Back in 1946, Dick Fagan of the Oregon Journal spotted an empty hole created by the removal of a traffic pole on what’s now Naito Parkway. He made the miniature park a running gag in his newspaper column. And the city joined in the fun.
One example: A junior Rose Queen stopped by to meet the legendary inhabitants. Unfortunately, as Fagan reported, Patrick O’Toole — head of the only leprechaun colony west of Ireland — was completely silent during the visit, as he had the ability to speak only after midnight. (A newspaper clipping shows a girl and perhaps a doll.) One time, the city pulled a gag on Fagan, delivering a miniature Ferris wheel to his park via the massive crane.
The park got its name from Fagan’s column, which in turn was named for “mill ends” — the remainders left after lumber is milled.
After Fagan’s death in 1969, Mill Ends became an official city park (in 1976 — on St. Patrick’s Day) and has lasted since, with interruptions. It made headlines not so long ago when someone stole the miniature Doug Fir. (It was later returned.) And the latest Naito renovations resulted in some changes to Mill Ends. The park was moved a whole six inches from its original site, and the city created a shamrock-shaped edge to the park to honor its legendary inhabitants.
