Mill Ends Park |

Mill Ends Park |

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Located in downtown Portland, Oregon, on the median strip of a park street is Mill Ends Park.

This park, according to the Guinness Book of World Records in 1971, is the smallest park in the world with only 452 square inches - just 2 feet wide!

And coincidentally, Portland is also home to 6,000 acres of urban forest - the largest in the country.

The space where Mill Ends Park is located has become the venue for a lamppost.

Who Built The World's Smallest Park?

The park was established when the lampposts did not appear and Irish local journalist Dick Fagan sat staring into the empty space from his second floor office window.

Deciding to take action, Fagan planted the flowers in the clearing, naming it "Mill Ends" after his columnist in the Oregon Journal.

Some of the contextual information, "head of the mill" are strange, unusable pieces of wood left at the factory.

On St. Patrick's Day in 1948, the park was officially dedicated to the town of Portland.

Renowned for his imaginative sense of humor, Fagan often writes about "what's going on" at the park in his column, and about the many challenges and struggles of the goblins living in the park.

He often publishes works on his encounters with his friend and the first elf Patrick O’Toole.

In Fagan's articles about the meetings with O’Toole, the goblin leader claims that the Mill Ends Park is "the only goblin colony in western Ireland".

In 1969, Fagan sadly passed away from cancer, but since then the park has been cared for by many Portlanders and has continued to grow.

What's in this park?

Before and after Fagan's death, various things were placed in the park.

These include a small butterfly pool complete with diving boards and a piece of the Oregon Journal building where Fagan works.

It even has a horseshoe and a little goblin happily leaning against his golden pot back in 2001!

In 2006, the park was temporarily relocated due to road construction on the park road, but it was moved back to its original location with a celebration of the participation of the Royal Rosarians.

To this day, the legend of goblins still exists in the Fagan family.

One of Dick's sons, Pat Fagan, is known to love sharing the park experience with his own son and it is quoted as saying "it's still the biggest goblin colony in western Ireland!"