1 min
Overview
Corvallis’ Riverfront Commemorative Park was dedicated in 2002; the 12-foot wide walkway, planted with thousands of trees and shrubs, replaced a blighted landscape of abandoned industrial buildings and parking lots. Back in 1845, Joseph C. Avery claimed 640 acres on the Marys River at the south end of the current riverfront area. It was Avery who changed the town’s name from Marysville to Corvallis in 1853, the new name coming from the Latin words for ‘heart of the valley.’ For the rest of the nineteenth century, this was an industrial waterfront, the steep banks fronted by buildings on pilings and steamship docks. As the age of the automobile replaced the reign of the steamer in the Willamette Valley, everything fell into slow decay. Now, thanks to the park, 1st Street has become vibrant once again, with new hotels, brew pubs, and restaurants facing the park and the river. There’s free parking in numerous spots between the North Riverfront Trailhead and South Riverfront Trailhead, but this description begins at the north end of the riverfront. From the trailhead, you can head upstream a little way past a grove of locust trees to another parking area and boat launch to get views downstream. Then return to the trailhead at 1st and Tyler, and pick up the wide paved path heading south. You’ll get few clear views of the river after the maples on the steep bluff leaf out, but you’ll be able to enjoy the plantings along the path. You may also notice a footpath that parallels the main trail as far as the Harrison Street Bridge. Next, you’ll walk under the Van Buren Street Bridge, the site of a ferry from 1848 to 1913, when the bridge, Corvallis’ first (and the only bridge for 50 years until the Harrison Street Bridge was constructed in 1964) was installed. A plaque here remembers the first steamer landing, the Canemah, at Marysville in 1851. Soon, you’ll reach the first of three small plazas. This one memorializes Helen M. Berg, the first female and longest-serving mayor of Corvallis. A set of fountains plays her
Trail Stats
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Photos
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350px-CorvallisRiverfrontMap
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