Portland’s oldest public park is going to be restored and supporters have invited the public to participate in a groundbreaking ceremony this week.

Jessica Grondin, the city’s spokeswoman, said city officials and the Friends of Lincoln Park will gather there at 4 p.m. on Thursday, April 13, to celebrate the start of the Lincoln Park Rehabilitation Plan.

Among the items on the list for restoration are new sidewalks, a new fountain basin, and more park benches. Portland’s Public Art Committee has funded a complete restoration of the historic Parisian fountain, which was installed in 1871.

Plans are also in place to restore the original 1866 cast-iron fence that has encircled the park for 150 years. Grondin said the fence is rusted, bent and broken.

Lincoln Park was Portland’s first publicly owned green space. The city purchased the 2½-acre property after the Great Fire of 1866. Grondin said that over the decades, the park “decayed into a place people walked quickly past or ignored altogether.”

Construction work will begin later this month and last eight to 12 weeks. Lincoln Park will be closed to the public during the construction period.

Correction: This story was updated at 1:44 p.m. on April 3 to correct the date of the groundbreaking ceremony and the year in which the fountain was installed.


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