A Piece of Portland History Returns to its Historic Home

The Elk has returned!

The base of the famous landmark Thompson Elk Fountain was damaged by Portland protestors during a wave of nationwide protests over the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in May of 2020. While the nine-foot-tall elk statue itself was undamaged, the 3,000-pound bronze elk was discovered to be held in place by a single bolt and the base was deemed unstable. (Read more about the history of the Thompson Elk Fountain here.)

The elk statue was cleaned and then placed in storage while the base and its fountain were reconstructed to meet national standards of historic preservation, which required sourcing the granite from the same quarry in Barre, Vermont, that supplied the original fountain base.

The restoration project was overseen by the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC) and managed by my dear friend Keith Lachowicz, the Public Art Collections Manager for RACC, who worked with conservator Robert Krueger, as well as countless agencies and contractors over nearly six years to bring the statue and fountain back to its historic downtown home. It was a fitting final project for Lachowicz before he retires after more than 19 years stewarding the city's public art collection.

A public rededication ceremony for the fountain was held on Sunday, April 12, with the elk adorned by a wreath around its neck and hundreds of onlookers cheering its homecoming, some—in very Portland fashion—wearing commemorative antlers for the occasion.