Most residents of Portland, if asked, would name the rose as the Portland city flower, and consider "The City of Roses" as an official city name. Many would be surprised however, to know that the Portland City Council didn’t pass a Resolution making it official until 2003.
The Portland Rose Society was founded in 1889 by Georgiana Burton Pittock (wife of Oregonian publisher Henry Pittock) after she invited her friends over to exhibit their roses in her garden. After that, the city became obsessed with roses, planting them so they bordered the streets. In 1905, during the Lewis and Clark Centennial celebration, there were 200 miles of rose hedges lining curbs. It was then that Portland was dubbed the "City of Roses."
Charles Paul Keyser (Portland Parks Superintendent 1917-1950) stated that Portland was "christened the City of Roses by visitors to an Episcopal Church convention which was held in the city in 1889 when the Portland Rose Society was formed. In 1889 Portland's first annual Rose Show was held and from 1904 through 1906 the Portland Rose Society sponsored a Fiesta along with its annual rose show.
In a 1905 address at the Lewis and Clark Exposition, Mayor Harry Lane suggested that Portland needed a "festival of roses." Roses were once so abundant in Portland that almost a half-million of the home-grown flowers filled an auditorium. Two years later, in 1907, the first Rose Festival was held -- with roses plucked from public plants and home gardens covering parade floats and cars, and marching postal workers filling their leather mailbags with the city's signature pink roses.
Eventually, other businesses, organizations, and clubs adopted the Rose City nickname or used an image of a rose in their logos.
Rose emblems still appear on Portland police cars and water meter covers. Yet it wasn't until 2003 that the "City of Roses" was officially recognized as Portland's nickname. On June 18, 2003, the City Council passed Resolution 36150 adopting the City of Roses as the city’s official nickname with a unanimous vote.
It’s the Portland Rose Society Annual Fall Rose Show this weekend! Click here for the 2021 Fall Rose Schedule.