THEODORE ROOSEVELT STATUE
Formerly in Portland’s Park Blocks
Updated 4-24-26
Description & Significance:
A bronze and granite work, this statue was installed in 1922, just three years after President Roosevelt’s death. The statue was the creation of Alexander Phimister Proctor, who was also a woodsman, hunter and student of Native American culture. His Beaux-Arts style works had a prominent place at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Writer Stuart Gunn wrote that Proctor created “a textured surface that created a rippling effect as light and shadow played over the surface of the sculpture, suggesting the illusion of a fleeting moment.”
The statue was one of a number of gifts from local physician Henry Waldo Coe to the city of Portland. Coe, whose wife was also a physician, was a confidant of Theodore Roosevelt (TR)and a leader in his short-lived Progressive party.
Roosevelt is portrayed as a colonel in military attire from the Spanish-American War in 1898. For some this is a troubling slice of his imperialist side. Yet without his rise to fame as a war hero, he likely would not become President of the United States only three years later. For many Portlanders of today, TR would still be admired as the first and greatest conservation President protecting vast wilderness areas for future generations:
as a progressive who supported many reforms, including food safety measures;
as a trust buster who did not let powerful industrialists oppress the lives of average Americans,
as a leading supporter of Edward Curtis’s life’s work of documenting clothing, customs and languages of as many indigenous cultures as he could.
However, Roosevelt’s legacy is complicated by support of eugenics, his interventionist foreign policy, and other matters.
Remarkably, there is a 28-minute silent film from 1922 called The Making of a Bronze Statue that documents the creation of this statue, step by step, including the use of stop motion. The film begins with the initial sketches by Proctor followed by steps taken by many workers over the course of the creation, including the enlargement of the small model by Japanese-American artist Gozo Kamamura as well as Italian artisans making the plaster mold. One sees every step, including the shipping and the arrival in Portland and its placement in the Park Blocks.
Challenge:
The statue was toppled and badly damaged by protesters in October 2020 and put into safe storage by the city.
Preferred outcome:
The statue should be returned to its original location with appropriate, historically vetted interpretive signage added.
Current status and timing:
According to a city official in April 2026, the statue’s return is assured but has been delayed. The city is looking for a foundry to do extensive repairs. Repair work itself is a process that will take a minimum of 18 months. Insurance will cover most of the expense. It will be returned to its original spot in the South Park Blocks with new interpretive signage in consultation with experts. The statue will return no earlier than 2028, possibly later.
Decision maker:
The city of Portland commissioners on March 6, 2024 voted unanimously to restore this statue and three others.
Action needed:
The AHC will monitor the reinstallation plan and advocate appropriately.
Find more information:
https://www.portland.gov/arts/monuments/whats-happening-citys-monuments/theodore-roosevelt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt,_Rough_Rider
The Making of a Bronze Statue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPJZwlnw-rc