The Imagination Station - Troutdale - 5.17.06 and 4.22.17

The Imagination Station

May, 2006:

Built in the mid-90's as part of a community project, the Imagination Station in Troutdale is a large play structure made mostly out of wood. With the exception of a few pieces, everything on the playground is connected. Stairs lead to towers, bridges connect the towers, and monkey bars and balance beams connect the rest. Some of the highlights of the park include a "volcano" featuring tires, a "secret" cave-like chamber, a zip line, and even a "dead end" among the maze of wooden pathways. It's the perfect place to play tag (you know, where the barkdust = forbidden lava); in fact, on my most recent visit, I witnessed Reynolds High School students flocking to the play structure when classes let out to form a game of tag. :) 

Location: Next to Reynolds High School (1698 SW Cherry Park Road; Troutdale, Oregon) 

April, 2017:

I've been back to this park a few times since 2006, but probably not since 2012. In 2016, arsonists set fire to the structure. Articles at the time indicated that the play structure had been "destroyed." While fiery photographs of the structure are creepy and awful, I guess I understood from those articles that the entire thing had been reduced to a burnt husk. This is not the case.

What was destroyed was about 1/4 to 1/5 of the structure, namely what you see here in this shot:

BEFORE:


AFTER:


The wobbly stairs, the double monkey bars, the dead end, the "volcano", the tower that launched the brown curly slide -- are all gone.

RIP airplane thing....





I'll miss you, tire volcano....



You gave me shocks, but I still loved you, curly slide....




Evidence of the fire remains:









And other parts of the structure could use some TLC...





I don't think that art was original.







However, improvements to the Imagination Station have been made, especially in the way of paint. Yay for color!













Here and there, wood has been replaced -- especially along the walkways.



And though it's been through a lot, and has lost some key components, the Imagination Station still stands tall.

How much more time it has, it's hard to say. Oregon weather isn't kind to wooden structures. The Imagination Station turns 25 this year. Another wooden structure, in Portland's Couch Park, was demolished in 2014 after a 35+-year lifespan.

So maybe, if the local hooligans can keep their kerosene and matches away from it, the Imagination Station might just be able to hang on for another decade.

We can hope!