209 NW 23rd Ave.  

45.524409, -122.698499 (OpenStreetMap, Google Maps, Yandex Maps)

Iron ring on the curb near the parking meter
Copy the phrase on the tag
Keep Portland Weird

Historical background

The sidewalks of Portland are peppered with metal rings. They are the remnants of the early 1900's when horses provided the primary mode of transportation. In 1905 there were only 218 cars registered in the entire state of Oregon. In 1907 Portland City Council passed an ordinance requiring that new curbs in front of houses have "ring bolts" installed every 25 feet so that delivery vehicles could be securely tied down to protect pedestrians and other wagons using the street. By the late 1920's, the automobile had almost completely replaced the horse and wagon and the tethering rings became obsolete. Moreover some locals complained about missteps because of them. So most of the rings were removed from curbs and sidewalks for safety purposes by the late 1970's. In 2005 Portland resident Scott Wayne Indiana tied his first plastic toy horse to a ring located in the Pearl District. It was his attempt to draw attention to the rings and to celebrate Portland's history. His personal art project soon found its fans and other Portland residents began adding their own tiny horses to the herd. You can find Instagram photos of hundreds of "parked" toy horses, other animals and couple of dinosaurs using #PortlandHorseProject hashtag. "Keep Portland Weird" is the city’s moto and it really is, isn’t it?

Present in routes of categories Lion, Griffin

Passed by: 39/39 (100%).

By categories:

  • Griffin: 10/10 (100%)
  • Lion: 29/29 (100%)