When seeking beauty under my nose (my goal this week,) the city of Tigard is not necessarily the first place that comes to mind. Home to box stores, multiplexes, industrial sites and bathed in exhaust fumes from the unending traffic at the intersections of 99 W and Rt 217, this small community never beckoned for a visit. Well, that could change.

I discovered its Outdoor Museum, open since 2019, by accident. Visiting an amazing upholstery store (waitlist 6 months! should tell you all) to deal with a couch abused for 26 years by boys, dogs and a lounging blog writer who shall remain nameless, I walked down the main street of downtown Tigard, looking at small shops, street cafes and public art until I came to the Rotary Plaza.

A ¾ mi heritage trail begins here, commemorating individual families representative of the history and changes of this community.

Multiple rusty, angular panels mirror the inactive railroad tracks that run parallel to the trail, and display stenciled and printed information about diverse individuals who shaped the history of the place. Historic photographs bring the stories to life, reminding us that although change ultimately happens only through collective efforts, it is individuals who drive and sustain the collective.

The installations were executed by Suenn Ho who’s firm Resolve Architecture has, among others, a large portfolio in the realm of civic and educational design. Five Oaks Museum (check out their on-line exhibits!) provided the documentation. Various art works by contemporary artists are also on display along the way. In truth, it struck me as a hodgepodge of mediums and styles that were far more authentically representative of a community creating a memorial to its history than any uniformly curated exhibition could ever be. It captures caring about a place, rather than depicting it from an elevated perspective.

Here is a look at the displays. The trail starts with Harry Kuehne who built successful businesses in what was then called Tigardville (later shortened to Tigard by the railroad that wanted no confusion with Wilsonville, one of the near-by stops.) Lover of horses, he was owner of a livery stable that rented horses and carts to the general public and traveling sales men who arrived by train. He later branched out to add a farm machinery shop – his story is cleverly used as an entry to the changes that arrived across time, from rural outpost to connection via railroad to the arrival of the automobile and how all that influenced what farmers grew or businesses adapted to.

Those who are commemorated along the trail are testimony to the increasing diversity of the community. The story of Peter Hing represents the contributions of immigrants from China.

The story of John and Annie Cash does not shy away from reminding us of the constitutionally ensconced anti-Black discrimination in our state.

Next we encounter community leader Evangelina “Vangie” Sanchez who fought tirelessly for educational opportunities and integration of Latino children and families.

Then there are Yoshio Hasuike and Sachiko Furuyama. Although he was born in Tigard he did not escape the fate of internment during World War II.

I somehow missed taking a picture of the last station in this series, commemorating Baχawádas Louis Kenoyer, the last known speaker of the Tualatin Kalapuya languages, who provided testimony of this ancestors and his life on the Grand Ronde reservation. Luckily the story can be found here.

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Along the way, three sculptures by Christine Clark, commissioned by the City of Tigard, pick up the rusty tone of the commemorative plates and guide us along the time-line of people’s experiences: Live, Settle, Advance. (2020)

Mosaic artist Jennifer Kuhns represents important features for the region in Tualatin Liveblood (2020) with blue mosaic inlays in flowing patterns. They suggest water, the Tualatin river and Fanno Creek being nearby, and show added objects that were important to the tribes of the region.

Add to the eclectic mix two murals who face each other by Joshua Lawyer and MJ Lindo-Lawyer: here is the explanation for the work from the Downtown Tigard Public Art Walking Guide:

“Supported in part by a $75,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant and funding from Washington County Visitors Association, this mural was commissioned by the City of Tigard as part of the Tigard Outdoor Museum project. The mural depicts the Kalapuyan people – a Kalapuya group, the Atfalati, were the Tualatin Valley’s earliest inhabitants – and what they valued most.

The design showcases large animals as spiritual guides. The wolf leads a young woman on her fishing voyage – an activity that had deep cultural significance to the Atfalati, and which remains very popular in the Tualatin Valley to this day. The other contains references to historic cultures, local wildlife, and water.

The two mirroring artworks painted under the 99W underpass show a contrast in color. One is lit up in mainly orange hues, while this mural is muted in blue colors. The dueling colors depict the two extremes of summer and winter. The seasons were vitally important to the Kalapuyan people, who based their seasons on their crop. The murals’ artists chose to depict the duality of nature, with a cooler scene shown here, and then a warmer, brighter scene shown on the opposite wall.”

I liked the fact that all of these women were depicted in modern clothing, placing them here and now in a continuum of their native culture, preserved through their elders.

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At the end of the trail you can cross over into Dirksen Nature Park which offers a loop through old growth forest and savannah and eventually leads across Fanno Creek back to where you started, a total of about 3 miles. (Step by step hike description can be found here.)

At the very beginning there is a new playground that displays serious creativity (and likely serious money.) Yet not a kid in sight when I walked by.

That was very different at about a kilometer south where an old playground with rickety structures was teeming with children of all ages and one lonely port-a-potty sported a line. I had to rest for a while and sat on a bench next to picnic tables where some 12 year-old beauties were trying out nail polish, happily chattering away in Russian. Little boys were chasing each other and screaming in Spanish, and two harried moms called to Ahmed and Arjaf, respectively, that it was time to go home. I was thinking about all the settlers that I had just learned about and how happy they would be to see Tigard as a place that made it possible for all to call it home, meeting and mingling at work, at play – and hopefully at the outdoor museum to understand how integration, both legally and factually, had to be fought for by courageous immigrants and their allies.

So where shall we go next?

Music today is from the Mosaic Concert (New music and art by NW women) presented by Cascadia Composers. Lisa Neher’s composition Look within is played by the Delgani String Quartet.