The Portland Public Market was a public market

Public market

Public markets are markets, in public spaces, where independent merchants can sell their products to the public. Typical products sold at public markets include fresh produce and baked goods, locally raised meats and dairy products, and various other food items and handcrafted goods...

 in Portland, Oregon

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...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, built in 1933 at a widely-advertised cost of $1 million. Controversial and ambitious, it was never as successful as the Central Public Market, centered at southwest Fifth and Yamhill Streets, which it was intended to replace.

Three stories tall with eleven-story towers, three blocks long, and with features including a gas station and a 500-seat auditorium, it was primarily a novelty, and struggled to retain tenants until finally closing in 1942. The architect was William G. Holford.

The building was leased to the U.S. Navy in 1943, then sold to the Oregon Journal

Oregon Journal

The Oregon Journal was Portland, Oregon's daily afternoon newspaper from 1902 to 1982. The Journal was founded in Portland by C. S. Jackson, the publisher of Pendleton, Oregon's East Oregonian newspaper, after a group of Portlanders convinced Jackson to help in the reorganization of the Portland...

in 1948 as the paper's operations plant. The paper moved out in 1961, and the building stood unused until it was bought in 1968 by the City of Portland, which demolished it the next year to make way for an expansion of Harbor Drive

Harbor Drive

Harbor Drive is the name of a street in Portland, Oregon, which was formerly a freeway that carried U.S. Route 99W along the western shore of the Willamette River in the downtown area...

, which was itself largely replaced in 1974 by Tom McCall Waterfront Park

Tom McCall Waterfront Park

Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park is a park located on the west bank of the Willamette River in downtown Portland, Oregon. It is , comprising 16 tax lots owned by the City of Portland....

.

There is currently no permanent public market in the city. As of September 26, 2007, Portlanders may have a renewed chance at a new Public Market. Until September 2007, the Historic Portland Public Market Foundation was considering Union Station

Union Station (Portland)

Union Station is a train station near the west shore of the Willamette River in the Old Town Chinatown section of Portland, Oregon, United States....

 as a possible site. However, it now appears that a former office of the United States Department of Homeland Security at 511 N.W. Broadway

511 Federal Building

The 511 Federal Building is a former federal post office that currently houses Department of Homeland Security offices for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Portland, Oregon, United States...

 is the site favored by the Public Market foundation. However, this building has been awarded to PNCA for their use as a graduate studies building.

External links

• Portland Public Market (official website)
• Portland Public Market 2.0—Paul vs. Dolich at the City Club, September 25, 2007 story about the market from Willamette Week
  Willamette Week
  Willamette Week is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Portland, Oregon, United States. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business and culture....