1969
Main St. continued from Powell Blvd. as it does today except there were train tracks where the Springwater trail is today. There was a waste water facility where the lower baseball field sets today. Johnson Creek traveled north to Powell Blvd. and made a major turn south at Powell Blvd. along Main St. to the Main St. bridge and went under the bridge and continued as it does today, at least in the Gresham area. From the northeast another creek called Thompson Creek flowed into Johnson Creek. The area where Main City Park is now, was a wrecking yard called Welty and Son Wrecking Company. His family, who owned one of the two wrecking yards located in Gresham. Today’s barn area, storage yard and two homes were part of the family-owned business property.
If a person visualizes Johnson Creek following the east property line to the north of the park and turning back, we would realize that all of the area between the creeks route was a storage yard for wrecked cars. Since Johnson Creek followed the path south, close to today’s “Spur Trail”, there had to be another way to get over the creek to the homes and the car storage area, and there was. Near the area of the garden bridge was a heavy duty vehicle bridge that was built in a west/east arrangement and went over Johnson Creek while the Main St. bridge allowed access to the dismantle area where the barn is. There were also other structures on the west side of the park and on the south side of Powell Blvd. between Main St. and Roberts.
A $900,000 bond was voted on by the City of Gresham citizens and passed that would allow construction in several areas.
- Powell Blvd. between Main Street and Burnside would be widened.
- Structures between Main and Roberts would be purchased and removed.
- The Welty land would be purchased.
- Johnson Creek would be re-routed from east to west to the Main City bridge to eliminate flooding up to Powell.
- The old route of Johnson Creek would be filled with materials from the new Johnson Creek Trunk Sewer project.
With construction beginning in the last quarter of 1969, through the winter of 1970 plans were being laid out for Main City Park and the Island. This is when the Japanese American Citizens League began the effort to design and construct a Japanese garden on what is known today as Tsuru Island.
1970s
The island was free standing and as part of the project, a bridge had been built to connect the mainland and the island. The area was most likely just called “the island.” This piece of land was about an acre based on the pictures and maps that we have available today and had more land on the northwest and east sides than we see today. Along with these changes involving the creeks and the surrounding area, Main City Park had the lower baseball field and a large refreshment area similar to the area we have today.
We don’t have much history, but we do know that the bridge was engineered and components were built offsite and brought to the garden for assembly.
1974-1975
Ed Fugi and Kaz Tamura reviewing the placement of rock for placement as part of the path. The JACL developed a committee to work with the garden designer Sam Iwamoto, who may have been a member of the organization to find materials and figure out a way to get those materials to the work site. Much of the garden was built during the fall and winter months and it is assumed it was because many of the volunteers were farm people in the community, growing vegetables, fruits, flowers and other farm products; those months were part of the non-growing season that would allow them some time to volunteer for such a project.
The island was lined with 5000 river rock from the Clackamas River and boulders from the Columbia River. This is of the east end of the island and we see Johnson Creek and the walking bridge to the east of the island.
Work is taking place at the entrance of the bridge going to the garden. The boulder in the foreground is most likely staged for placement once some of the final excavation is complete. One can see the barn in the back ground.
Preparing the Garden
Preparing the land for the garden. This photo is taken looking south with Gresham Butte in the background.
Dedication
September 2, 1975: Japanese Garden Dedication
Peace. Tranquility. Longevity. These were the themes of the Japanese Garden in Gresham Main Park on September 2, 1975. Picture shows the dedication on the baseball field with Sam Iwamoto, Landscaper; Co-chairmen of the garden committee Kaz Tamura and Yosh Mishima. The garden committee included Dr. Joe Onchi, Henry Kato, Shig Nagae, George Ninomiya, Shiro Takeuchi and Mits Nakamura.
Photo 1: Dedication at Main City Park. Speaking is Kaz Tamara, JACL president.
Photo 2: This picture was taken after the dedication ceremony of the garden, by the Japanese American Citizens League to the City Of Gresham, September 2, 1975. The location is at Main City Park at the refreshment stand behind the baseball field.
Photo 3: Sam Iwamoto, Newton Takashima, and Mayor of Gresham, Al Myers.
The Gresham Sister City Association was formed in 1977 between Gresham and Ebetsu, and that same year former Mayor Elmer Summerfield led a delegation to Japan, where the connection was made official. Later, a ceremonial cherry tree was planted in Main City Park.
Early ’80 to 2011
Unfortunately like many Japanese gardens in the United States, Tsuru Island went into disarray. The Japanese American Citizens League of Troutdale/Gresham could not keep up with the maintenance of the garden.
2011
In May of 2011 Tamiko Takeuchi invited her landscaper, Jim Card with Card Landscaping to Tsuru Island to “look”. The goal in 2011 was to “clean up” the garden by cutting trees, pruning, removing blackberries, etc. After extensive work and communication with the City it was apparent that Card and Takeuchi needed to find a non-profit to partner with. The JACL donated money to build the path, the City found volunteers and eventually the Gresham-Ebetsu Sister City Association adopted the Tsuru Island.
2012: Design Process
For Jim Card to develop the garden’s master plan, he observed erosion issues that had affected the island for years. A master plan started taking shape and was finished in six months. Although, re-designers of the original garden consulted with Sadafumi Uchiyama, curator of the Portland Japanese Garden, and Japanese master gardener Toru Tanaka of Portland Landscape Design and Japanese Garden Specialty, this was not going to be a traditional Japanese garden.
The second process was the construction of the garden. All the plants were measured, documented in their exact location and spacing, and the water problem was understood.
2013: Construction
The construction of the revitalized Japanese Garden took all of 2013 under the direction of Jim Card and the approval from the City of Gresham. All throughout 2013 the irrigation, digging of trenches, electricity installed, boulders found and set in place, drainage system developed, basically everything except planting, lighting, and laying of the blue stone pathway happened in 2013. With constant communications with the City, volunteers from neighborhood groups started gaining traction and the the hard work was completed.
2014: Garden Rebirth
In the Spring of 2014 the Garden was ready to be unveiled. Over 8000 hours was dedicated in making this unforeseen challenge come to fruition. The Garden plantings are made up of those that existed from the original garden build and those that were installed as the result of the new design. Many varieties of junipers exist on the island and all of them were from the original planting.
Some of the original plants include pines, hinoki, bamboo, dogwood tree, azalea, camellia and andromeda. In some cases a grouping of plants were established and over the 40 years some have been removed for various reasons. No records were kept about the plantings in the original garden, however we do have pictures showing some of them being planted with where they can be seen and identified today.
This record allows us to determine what year the plants were installed and in most cases what month as well. An example is that we have a picture showing azaleas that currently exists flanking both sides of the bridge. These azaleas were planted in April, 1974. We can see that they are blooming and they still bloom in April of each year.
2015: Bridge Completed
For design inspiration, in 2013 Card visited the bridge at the Nishinomiya Tsutakawa Japanese Garden in Spokane, Washington. The new Tsuru Island bridge is wider and twice as long. Jim Card purchased purple heart wood with 75% of the materials funded by the City of Gresham, the planning and construction of the bridge was to begin.
Jim Card and numerous volunteers sawed, machined, and glued all the pieces to construct the bridge—in Jim’s home workshop. This endeavor took roughly six months to complete. Once again, volunteers made this happen under the meticulous direction of Jim Card. By June of 2015, the old bridge was demolished. In July of 2015 the new bridge was completed with the finishing touches of a finial to each post called a Giboshi— a standard for bridges in Japan.
2016: Azumaya
Early in the design process for the Garden, we determined that there would be a central area for small meetings, entertainment, displays and just relaxing. Kent Thompson set up a team of volunteers just like they did for the bridge project. All of the cutting was done at Jim’s wood shop. Many sections were prefit for accuracy and lots of discussions about the fitting process and future movement of materials. All precut components were coated with the Rosewood oil before leaving the shop.
2017: Ebetsu Plaza
Saturday morning, Sept. 8, 2017, the community gathered for the grand opening of Ebetsu Plaza, named in honor of the 40th anniversary of Gresham’s sister-city pact with Ebetsu, Japan. The event featured refreshments, goody bags and music from a koto (Japanese harp).
“We were originally going to name it Tsuru Plaza, but we realized it would be perfect to name it Ebetsu Plaza,” Card said.
2018: 10 Trees in 10 Parks for 10 Years and Touchstone Paver Campaign
The city of Gresham in its 10th years as a Tree City USA. celebrated Arbor Month April 5, 2018 with planting 10 Akebono cherry trees in the newly broken ground of Ebestu Plaza. The trees were graciously donated by our friends at J. Frank Schmidt Nursery.
“A tree is very emblematic of our relationship — we have deep roots but continue to grow,” Mayor Bemis said.
Those behind Ebetsu Plaza have another way to bring the community together, and raise needed funds for it and the Japanese Garden.
Touchstone Paver Campaign
The purpose of the Touchstone paver campaign is to create financial security for the Gresham-Ebetsu Sister Association, who was the umbrella non-profit organization. Card did not want the mistakes of the past to happen again. He set up an endowment fund with Edward Jones where all the proceeds from the paver campaign are deposited.
The Touchstone Paver fundraiser’s plan is to engrave16 large business pavers for $1500 and approximately 3000 tiles at Ebetsu Plaza, allowing community members to spend $100 and have their own messages and images shared. The campaign enlisted approximately 12 non-profits to receive 20% of the proceeds when the paver purchaser designated their non-profit of choice. A few of these non-profits were: SnowCap Charities, Gresham-Barlow Education Foundation, Eastside United FC, Apple of His Eye Charity, Gresham Youth Baseball, Mt. Hood Hospice, Meals on Wheels, and Salvation Army. By 2022, this portion of the campaign was eliminated.
2019: Building of the Greenhouse and Resouce Center Remodel
In June 2019, GJG submitted a grant for $7,500 to establish an Exploratory Program for students with special needs to gain job skills in the horticulture industry. With the Community Enhancement grant money from the city of Gresham, the GESCA constructed a greenhouse.
Resource Center
The Resource Center was “donated” to GESCA in 2018. In 2019, Card and volunteers added a kitchenette.