Lair Hill Park
4.4 (152)park
4.4 (152)A South Portland park anchored by century-old brick landmarks, including a former Carnegie library and local public art.
Description
Multnomah County deeded the park in 1927, named for William Lair Hill, the pioneer attorney who codified Oregon's laws. Its main 1918 brick building originally housed county hospital nurses before serving as federal offices and, for over five decades, the city's Children's Museum. Beside it, the 1921 Customs House was designed by Folger Johnson as a Carnegie branch that once circulated a multilingual collection in Yiddish, German, Polish, and Italian. At the west end, Bruce West’s 1978 sculpture of metal boulders represents a former rock grotto where older men gathered on hot summer days to play chess.
