NEWBERG, Ore. — The City of Newberg and the Newberg-Dundee Police Department have started construction on a public safety parking lot adjacent to Memorial Park, on a city-owned parcel that currently houses the Memorial Park Gazebo.
The gazebo will be moved further southeast into Memorial Park, near the scout house in the center of the park, said NDPD Chief of Police Jeff Kosmicki.
The lot will initially serve as parking for Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue while Station 20 on 2nd Street undergoes construction. After Station 20 reopens at the corner of N. Blaine Street and 2nd Street, the lot will remain as overflow parking for NDPD.
The three rhododendrons that previously ringed the gazebo were replanted by CPRD Parks Supervisor Bryan Stewart at other locations managed by Chehalem Parks and Recreation, said CPRD Public Information Director Kat Ricker. According to a plaque that previously stood near the rhododendron garden, the flowers were planted by Gail Chamberlain in memory of her father, Walt Chamberlain, a U.S. Air Force veteran and former millworker who lived from 1916 to 1989.
Sixteen crepe myrtle plants that also occupied the site are being relocated to Dundee’s Sander Estate Park.
The gazebo’s removal first came into focus during a February 2024 city council meeting, when councilors heard about the removal of a large coastal redwood whose roots were growing into stormwater pipes and two aging Oregon white oak trees that posed a public safety risk. During those discussions, Public Works Director Russ Thomas said the gazebo was showing signs of dry rot and potentially needed to be removed for public safety. After inspection, that statement was later retracted.
While local groups asserted in 2024 that the tree and gazebo removals were driven by a desire to expand the public safety lot, Thomas said the projects were unrelated and that the tree removal was necessary regardless. The gazebo removal, he said, was prompted by TVF&R’s need for additional space while the station undergoes reconstruction.
Thomas has since retired from the City of Newberg.
Foundation construction has started at the lot across Blaine St. from Station 20, according to TVF&R Public Information Officer Corrine Haning. The temporary stations are anticipated to be completed by mid-summer, at which point demolition will begin on the main station. Overall completion of Station 20 is currently projected for late summer 2027.
Gazebo History
The Memorial Park Gazebo was built by volunteers and completed in 1997, said Larry Anderson, a former City of Newberg engineer who designed the gazebo and helped oversee the project. Newberg Mayor Donna Proctor was a fierce advocate for the structure, which was funded and built almost entirely by community volunteers, Anderson said.
“There were so many people who helped out, it’s hard to remember everyone,” said Anderson, who retired from the city in 2000.
A plaque inside the gazebo listed 13 individuals and companies involved in the construction, including the Smurfit Newsprint Company, the Kiwanis Club of Newberg, USHIO Inc., A-Dec, the Newberg Rotary Club, and others.
Many of the elements in and around the gazebo were donated by area companies and organizations. Beaudry Cabinets shaped the wood columns, and Jay’s Custom Fabrication made the metal rails and the distinctive weathervane on top, featuring a brass toilet tank float found at Newberg Steel.
“We were rummaging through a scrap metal pile and saw that globe-looking thing,” Anderson said. “It looked really unique, so we said to each other, ‘That’ll do.'”
The Memorial Park Gazebo was officially dedicated as a tribute to men and women who have served in the U.S. armed forces by VFW Post 4015 on Nov. 11, 1997.
Anderson said, in his opinion, the gazebo itself may not be worth saving, as much of the material has aged and could fall apart during transit. Proctor had hoped the structure would be larger than its final size, Anderson said, but the design was constrained by the available space in the park. If the city relocates it to a more open site, Anderson suggested they consider rebuilding it larger, in keeping with Proctor’s original vision.
“She wanted it to be more of a community space,” he said. “Being so small, you can only fit a few people under the shelter. But if it were bigger, more members of the community could access it.”
