PORTLAND, Ore. — As part of his proposed $7.1 billion budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has allocated $1.5 million for the reconstruction of the Thompson Elk Fountain and restoration of the famous elk statue to its original location.
"Those visiting downtown will also soon find that the Thompson Elk Fountain has been restored to its natural downtown habitat as this budget proposes funding to restore and re-install this beloved symbol in Portland," the mayor's office said in a new release.
During the nightly protests downtown during the summer of 2020, protesters damaged the statue's granite base when they lit fires in the troughs around the base of the statue, which was located on Southwest Main Street between 3rd Avenue and 4th Avenue.
The city feared even further damage to the iconic statue, and the elk and base were removed in July 2020 and placed in storage in a secret location while city officials decided what to do with the elk.
City commissioners voted to restore both the statue and a reproduction of its fountain base in May 2022. In October of that same year, an estimate from the Thompson Elk Fountain restoration feasibility study estimated it would cost upwards of $2 million to repair and restore the fountain.
The Thompson Elk Fountain is named after former Portland Mayor David P. Thompson. In the 1900s, he commissioned the now historic landmark to honor the Oregon Humane Society, which he co-founded.
Over the past 120 years, historians have recorded around 30 major protests that took place at the fountain. It was damaged during Occupy Portland protests in 2011.
An element that distinguished the 2020 protests was the fountain basins were empty due to city mandates that shut down fountains during the pandemic. That meant the fires that were started there caused damage never seen before.
Wheeler's proposed budget was released Thursday.
