World's Smallest Park Reopens After Move
A park in the US, which holds the world record for being the world's smallest, has been reopened after being moved from its original location.
Mill Ends Park in Portland, Oregon, was demolished as part of the city's Better Naito Forever project, which made a road in the city better for walking and cycling. The park was rebuilt about 15 centimeters away from its original location in December 2021.
In 1971, Guinness World Records officially named Mill Ends Park as the smallest in the world. The park is a small circle of grass that's under 61 centimeters across and has an area of under 0.3 square meters. It even has a small sidewalk around it.
The park was created in 1946 by Portland journalist Dick Fagan. The story goes that Fagan could see a small, unused area of land from his office at the Oregon Journal. Fagan planted flowers on the land and gave it the name Mill Ends Park, which was also the name of the column in which he wrote about the park for his newspaper.
Fagan, whose family was Irish, wrote fictional stories about strange things happening in his park, including that leprechauns had made it their home. He wrote about the park until his death in 1969.
Mill Ends Park was officially opened to the public on St. Patrick's Day in 1948, and was recognized as a city park on the same day 28 years later in 1976.
