Georgiana Smith Park - Hood River Public Library

Georgiana Smith Park surrounds the Hood River County Library in the heart of downtown Hood River. It is part of the County’s park system. The park grounds envelop the magnificent brick library building. An adjoining lot to the west was donated to the County by the Stoltz family of Hood River in 2004, and was merged with the original park during construction in 2005.

Generous lawn areas on the park’s north side face Oak Street, downtown Hood River’s busy main street, where they allow for gorgeous views of the Columbia River. The lawns are popular as a picnic spot for locals and visitors alike. Additional benches along the natural rock wall on the north side of the park entice visitors to sit and relax.

Design

The park’s expanded layout, designed by Marion McNew of Mount Hood Gardens, connects State and Oak Streets, and also provides access to Sixth Street. Three different patio spaces with diverse sun and shade aspects create separate outdoor rooms and are all handicapped-accessible. They allow for sitting, eating lunch, or staging of small music events. The dry-stack stone walls and patio walls throughout the park were constructed by Mount Hood Gardens.

Funding

Georgiana Smith Park was made possible through donations and in-kind work by numerous organizations and many individuals, among others the Library Foundation, Hood River County, Hood River Rotary, the Columbia Gorge Master Gardeners, Friends of the Library, the City of Hood River, and Mount Hood Gardens. It was dedicated in a formal ceremony and celebration for the public on October 9, 2005.

History

A plaque fastened to a large stone, located in the center of the park, commemorates the family of Georgiana Smith, early settlers in Hood River. Georgiana Smith was instrumental in establishing the original library in 1908. The historic library building was realized with a grant from the Carnegie Foundation and designed in the Jacobethan style. It opened in 1914, with the most recent expansion dedicated in 2003.

For more detailed information about the creation of the park, please refer to the adjoining articles.

Before: Looking east toward the Library from Sixth Street, April 2005

Before: The work has begun; looking east toward the Library from Sixth Street, late April 2005

Before: The future site of the sunken Children’s Patio, March 2005

After: The west border along Sixth Street in its full glory, with the Columbia River in the background, October 2007