“The Irish guy in the Water Bureau”
When Dan Ryan, the Portland City Commissioner overseeing the rebuilding of the Thompson Elk Fountain, needed answers, he knew who to call,
“I kept hearing about this Irish guy in the Water Bureau. And I just learned his name Thursday when they were all down here – the public servants – to make sure this stayed ON BUDGET. David O’Longaigh - my Irish friend – take a bow, take a bow,” he told 400 happy Portlanders.
David O'Longaigh may not have been front and center at the celebration of the restoration of the Thompson Elk Fountain in downtown Portland on Sunday (April 12), but he’s been “on” this project since the fountain was trashed by protestors during the summer of 2020, eventually becoming Project Sponsor and, as Ryan learned, the man with the answers.
A Dublin native, O’Longaigh has been a key player in Portland’s Irish American community since he organized a Famine commemoration in 1997. HIs “day job” has been with the City of Portland all these years. Much of his spare time has been spent keeping Hibernianism alive in Oregon. Not to mention playing a key role in making the Oregon Potato Famine Memorial a reality.
“Shockingly devastating...fire every night ,“ was how O'Longaigh describes the damage done to the Thompson Elk Fountain on SW Main in Portland. (Photo courtesy of KOIN)
By the time the fires of the Summer of 2020 were extinguished, David was laying the groundwork for a restoration project. Rebuilding was far from a sure thing. Destruction of the Thompson Fountain and relocation of the Elk Statue were seriously considered. But with strong community support, rejuvenation on the same sight got the green light and eventually funding came through from City Council. (He credits Bill Watkins, Stephen Kafoury and Concerned Citizens for organizing the successful public pressure campaign to secure the $1.5 of the $2.2 million total project cost.)
The fountain under the elk statue had been used as a watering trough for horses back in the days before cars, trucks, buses and bikes. It was dried up and vulnerable to incendiary destruction by the time the riots began. But the redesigned and restored fountain will pump water once again. The revised model will use recirculated water that will be stored in a stainless-steel vault under the fountain. The Portland Water Bureau says the recirculation system will save 18,720 gallons per day, adding up to 6.8 million gallons per year. (From Fred Leeson's Building On History blog. Excellent source on historic Portland. Here's a link to the posts re: Thompson Elk Fountain)
O'Longaigh told PDX HI that bringing the elk statue back was minor compared to rebuilding the granite fountain. "Most people are missing the key element of the story. The Elk itself is incidental to the project. The Elk is like the garnish on a plate; glamorous, but not the meal. The meal is the Fountain. That's what the $2.2m , 6 year project was: restoring the 120 year old stone fountain. The elk was undamaged, the stone was utterly destroyed. Without the fountain the Elk has nothing to garnish.” How did it make him feel, being so involved in returning the Thompson Elk AND Fountain to their place on SW Main? "It makes me feel like I'm paticipatng and contributing," he said.
As they say in Saint Paul, this wasn’t David’s first rodeo. He was one of a handful of Portland Hibernians who took care of planning, funding and construction for the Oregon Potato Famine Memorial at Mt. Calvary Cemetery, just 3.7 miles (as the crow flies) from the Thompson Elk Fountain. The last native of Dublin, Ireland to have such a role in Portland affairs was Stephen J. McCormick, Portland's Mayor in 1859 and 1860.
David will be at the Portland Hibernian Society meeting Thursday April 16 at Kells Restaurant. He'll be available after the evening's presentation if you've got any questions about the Thompson Elk Fountain Project.
WHY AM I RECEIVING THIS?
Almost every Sunday and Tuesday morning I send out a blog post which will appear in the Thursday Edition of the PDX Hibernian Independent. You're receiving this because a. you asked to b. I owe you content for supportng my short-lived Substack swing of the bat or c. I thought you might like a preview of the PDX HI.