page_title: Rocky Butte
section_title: Human history
hierarchical_section_title: Rocky Butte / Human history
caption_attribution_description: English: The Rocky Butte tunnel
context_page_description: Rocky Butte is an extinct cinder cone butte in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is also part of the Boring Lava Field, a group of volcanic vents and lava flows throughout Oregon and Washington state. The volcano erupted between 285,000 and 500,000 years ago.
  As part of the Boring Lava Field, Rocky Butte is considered an outlier of the Cascade Range. It was also produced by the subduction of the oceanic Juan de Fuca tectonic plate under the North American tectonic plate; it is the core remnant of intrusive rock from kilate Pleistocene volcano. The Butte has a calc-alkaline composition and consists of basaltic andesite with olivine phenocrysts.
  Historically, the mountain was the home of the Rocky Butte Jail, Judson Baptist College, and Hill Military Academy, as well as an extensive Works Progress Administration construction project; it is also currently the site of a still functioning but decommissioned aircraft beacon, Portland Bible College, and a campus for the City Bible Church. The slopes of Rocky Butte currently support Joseph Hill Wood Park and the Rocky Butte Natural Area, which includes a wide variety of flora and fauna and supports rich forest stands.
context_section_description: During the 1930s, employees of the Works Progress Administration constructed a park at the summit, at an elevation of about 600 feet (180 m). Called Joseph Wood Hill Park, it was built on Rocky Butte when Rocky Butte was known as Wiberg Butte. Rock from Rocky Butte's eastern slopes was used for the Multnomah County jail building, and some were later used for renovation of the Historic Columbia River Highway. There is a communications tower on the southern end of the volcano.
  The Rocky Butte jail, completed in 1947, served as the major facility for male prisoners in Multnomah County, with a courtyard and recreation field. According to Rubin (1973), the Rocky Butte jail housed 320 inmates, but Houston, Gibbons, and Jones (1988) claimed that it often exceeded this limit. The jail also had a library, which was established in 1967 and housed 3,000 volumes. In general, the jail was known for being the subject of multiple grand jury investigations for security concerns, dirty conditions, access to drugs, violence, lack of organized programming, and most notably, during the 1960s and 1970s for severe overcrowding. Further attempts to replace the Rocky Butte jail were motivated by a successful escape in 1981 and a gun smuggling incident that resulted in an officer being shot in 1982. The Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) was built in downtown Portland after Rocky Butte Jail was demolished during the 1980s The Rocky Butte Jail and MCDC participated in a research study on prisons, which was published in 1988 in the journal Crime & Delinquency.
  In 1934, the Rocky Butte Scenic Drive Historic District was established. Built as part of a Works Progress Administration project that supported 25,000 employees in Portland, it was designed by the Multnomah County Road Department, The drive reaches the summit of Rocky Butte to a viewpoint overlooking Portland. Workers used basalt from the Rocky Butte quarry to create retaining walls, and the finished project was designed to have a rustic style typical for public works projects of the time. WPA workers also built the park and a baroque staircase at the top of Rocky Butte, finishing construction in 1939. At its peak popularity in the 1940s, Rocky Butte had more than 4,000 cars visiting each day. Over time, it was not maintained well, and it became a frequent site for teenage parties; in the early 1990s, the Rocky Butte Preservation Society began cleaning up and restoring the park area, and adding new amenities. Once 5.5 acres (0.022 km²) of land were added and the Preservation Society took on an active maintenance role, the site was regraded, original plaques were reinstalled, and lawn areas, irrigation, red cinder walkways, and additional trees were added to the park. The District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. Other WPA projects included a tunnel 375 feet (114 m) in length at the southern end of Rocky Butte. Built between 1939 and 1941, it was constructed to improve access to scenic views on the Butte. The project took 16 months to complete, and workers used hand mining and drill and shoot methods to excavate layers of cinders and lava flows. The tunnel is curved because of the volcano's 5 degree grade. Rocky Butte basalt was used to built the Rocky Butte Tunnel as well as the nearby West Burnside Tunnel and NW Cornell Road Tunnel, all three of which were constructed by the mason R. Curcio and his crew. In total, the WPA's Rocky Butte project cost $500,000 to complete.
  The Hill Military Academy, a prominent military school in Portland, moved from the northwestern district of Portland to a campus on Rocky Butte in 1931. The campus covered 150 acres (0.61 km²) on the northern side of the volcano. Ran by its founder, Joseph Wood Hill, it closed in 1959 after its enrollment had declined significantly, and the school was purchased by Judson Baptist College. Today, Portland Bible College has a campus on Rocky Butte with offices and dormitory buildings, and The Grotto, a famous Catholic shrine encompassing 62 acres (0.25 km²), lies adjacent to the volcano. Cr
caption: The Rocky Butte Tunnel
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