The North Park Blocks form a city park in downtown

Downtown Portland

Downtown Portland, the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States, is located on the west bank of the Willamette River. It is in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and is where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found....

 Portland

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

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Captain John H. Couch

John H. Couch

John Heard Couch was an American sea captain and pioneer in the Oregon Country in the 19th century. Often referred to as Captain Couch, he became famous for his singular skill at navigation of the mouth of the Columbia River. He is one of the early residents and founders of Portland,...

 deeded the five blocks to the city in 1865, probably officially platted and dedicated to the city in 1869. An ordinance was passed in 1904, setting aside one park block for women and children. In 1906, another block was added for a children's playground. The playground was divided into a boys playground and a small child and girl's playground. Use of the North Park Blocks declined, especially as the 1924 zoning code did not preserve residential uses near them.

By the 1940s, the North Park Blocks area was decidedly neglected. A problem with the homeless and aggressive panhandlers led to Daisy Kingdom and the U.S. Customs House

United States Customhouse (Portland, Oregon)

The U.S. Customhouse is a historic custom house located at Portland in Multnomah County, Oregon. It was built to house offices of the United States Customs Service.-Building history:...

 to hire security guards, and park sprinklers set to intermittently spray sleepers; in 1989, the problem had been worse, with the local Montessori School finding drug users and discarded needles in the city playground.

In 2002, Chinese

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 foundry owner Huo Baozhu gave bronze elephants, full-size reproductions of Shang Dynasty

Shang Dynasty

The Shang Dynasty or Yin Dynasty was, according to traditional sources, the second Chinese dynasty, after the Xia. They ruled in the northeastern regions of the area known as "China proper" in the Yellow River valley...

statues, to Portland. Portland placed them on the North Park Blocks where children could interact with them.