In 1948 the site that would become Mill Ends Park was intended to be the site for a light pole.
When the pole failed to appear and weeds sprouted in the opening, Dick Fagan, a columnist for the Oregon Journal, planted flowers in the hole and named it after his column in the paper, "Mill Ends" (a reference to leftover irregular pieces of wood at lumber mills).
Fagan's office in the Journal building overlooked the median in the middle of the busy thoroughfare that ran in front of the building (then known as SW Front Avenue).

The park was dedicated on St. Patrick's Day, 1976, as "the only leprechaun colony west of Ireland," according to Fagan.
In 1948 the site that would become Mill Ends Park was intended to be the site for a light pole. When the pole failed to appear and weeds sprouted in the opening, Dick Fagan, a columnist for the Oregon Journal, planted flowers in the hole and named it after his column in the paper, "Mill Ends" (a reference to leftover irregular pieces of wood at lumber mills). Fagan's office in the Journal building overlooked the median in the middle of the busy thoroughfare that ran in front of the building (then known as SW Front Avenue).
The park was dedicated on St. Patrick's Day, 1976, as "the only leprechaun colony west of Ireland," according to Fagan.
Mill Ends Park