Pioneer Courthouse Square was created in the wake of a controversy that inspired Portlanders' determination to preserve their city's history and create a vital center for their future.

Elijah Hill was the first property owner of the current Pioneer Courthouse Square site. He purchased the land for $24 and a pair of boots.

Central School, Portland's first public school, was next to occupy the site, but was moved to an adjoining street in 1883 to make way for the Portland Hotel.

The old Portland Hotel was finished in 1890 with the assistance of a community subscript. This elegant building was Portland's social center until it was demolished in 1951 to make way for a parking lot.

In 1974, the City secured the land for public use and the citizens of Portland gathered together to assist in the fundraising and design of their city's "living room." To raise funds for the project, Friends of the Square asked people to buy personal bricks etched with the "owner's" name.

The Square was dedicated to the people and opened on April 6, 1984 - the City of Portland's birthday.

TIMELINE

• 1849: Elijah Hill, a shoemaker, purchased the block for $24 and a pair of high boots.
• October 20, 1856: School Board purchased the block from James Field for $1,000.
• May 17, 1858: Central School opened (construction cost $6,000) with 280 pupils and three teachers, a year before Oregon became a star in the flag.
• 1883: Block sold to Northern Pacific Terminal Company (Henry Villard) for $75,000, as the site for a new hotel.
• 1883: P.A. Marquam purchased the school building and moved it a block to the north (American Bank Building)
• 1888-90: Portland Hotel constructed, only after a group of businessmen raised $750,000 in subscriptions.
• April 7, 1890: Portland Hotel opened (construction cost $1,000,000).
• The Portland Hotel was eight stories high, contained 326 sleeping rooms, a restaurant, ballroom, billiard room, bar, sitting rooms, dining rooms, sewing rooms, a reception room, ladies parlors, public restrooms, public telephones, a news and cigar stand, Western Union telegraph office, quarters for live-in staff, and elevators. The price tag was over $1,000,000 and 4,000,000 bricks were used in its construction.
• Local investors included George Markle, William Ladd, Henry Corbett, Henry Failing and many others.
• 1951: Meier & Frank purchased the block, razed the hotel, and built a two-level parking structure.
• Much of the original stone foundation for the Portland Hotel remains under the sidewalks
• In the late 1960s, Meier & Frank proposed an 11-story parking garage on the block, which was denied by the City after a series of heated public hearings. This proposal, perhaps more than any other event, prompted both the downtown business community and the City to undertake a comprehensive downtown planning program.
• Portland's Downtown Plan (1972-1974) proposed open space development of the current Pioneer Courthouse Square block. This plan set in motion the lengthy administrative and political negotiations that resulted in the purchase of the block by the City, the design competition, and the choice of the Will Martin design scheme.