Sarah Helmick State Recreation Site

Sarah Helmick State Recreation Site
Picnic area
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Type	Public, state
Location	Polk, County, Oregon
Nearest city	Monmouth
Coordinates	44°46′54″N 123°14′16″W[1]
Operated by	Oregon Parks and Recreation Department

Sarah Helmick State Recreation Site, also known as Helmick Park, is a state park located south of Monmouth, in Polk County, Oregon, United States. It is located on the floodplain of the Luckiamute River and is forested by Bigleaf Maple, Douglas-fir, and Black Cottonwood trees, among other varieties. The park is named for Sarah Helmick, a pioneer to Oregon in 1845 who donated the original land. Sarah Helmick State Recreation Site is the first state park established in Oregon.[2] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.[3]

History

Establishment

The land for the park was the first land acquired by what was then the State Highway Commission for use as a park when Sarah Helmick donated 5.16 acres (2.09 ha) and James and Amanda Helmick donated 0.3 acres (0.12 ha) on February 15, 1922.[4]

The park's namesake, Sarah Helmick (1823-1924), was an Oregon pioneer who settled a donation land claim which included the park land with her husband during the second half of the 1840s.[5] The resident of Albany, Oregon gifted the original parcel of land for use as an "automobile campground."[5]

Expansion

In 1948, 23.65 acres (95,700 m^2) were purchased and added to the park, followed by a gift of 1.7 acres (0.69 ha) later that same year.[4] Currently a day-use only park, the park used to have overnight camping facilities.[4]

See also

• List of Oregon state parks

Footnotes

1. "Sarah Helmick State Park". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
2. "Sarah Helmick State Recreation Site - Oregon State Parks". stateparks.oregon.gov. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
3. "Weekly listing". National Park Service.
4. Chester H. Armstrong, Oregon State Parks: History, 1917-1963. Salem, OR: Oregon State Highway Department, 1965; pg. 185.
5. "Mrs. S. Helmick Dies in Albany," Corvallis Gazette-Times, vol. 16, no. 202 (Dec. 24, 1924), pg. 1.

External links

• "Sarah Helmick State Recreation Site". Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
• Media related to Sarah Helmick State Recreation Site at Wikimedia Commons
• Works related to Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 26/Sarah Helmick and Helmick Park at Wikisource