Reserve a covered picnic site through the city's online reservation center.
Verdell Burdine Rutherford Park
Public asset records for this park are shown as a transparency layer. Itemized repair costs remain pending until Portland Parks & Recreation provides verified estimates.
Real ways to help Verdell Burdine Rutherford Park and parks like it. This site does not process donations; every link below goes to an official giving or volunteering channel.
City-published park details
Verdell Burdine Rutherford Park on Portland.gov
Verdell Burdine Rutherford Park covers nearly 8 acres in the Centennial Neighborhood at SE 167th and Market Street, just west of Patrick Lynch Elementary School.
Verdell Burdine (pronounced bur-DYE-n) was born in Oklahoma in 1913 and moved with her family that same year to Oregon, who hoped to get farmland under the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909. Upon arrival, they learned that Black people were prohibited from owning free land in Oregon.
In 1936, Verdell married Otto Rutherford and settled in Portland. Together, they were leaders of the Oregon chapter of the NAACP, a national civil rights organization, and oversaw one of the NAACP’s biggest victories – the passage of the Public Accommodations Act of 1953 which outlawed discrimination in public places on the basis of race, religion, or national origin.
Rutherford was also a historian of the Black community in Portland. In 2011, a decade after Verdell’s passing, her daughter, Charlotte, gifted her historical collection to Portland State University. It remains accessible for academic research and public use as desired by Verdell.
Park hours: 5:00am-midnight
Park history
This park was originally a Multnomah County park and was transferred to the City of Portland in 1993. Verdell Burdine Rutherford Park covers nearly 8 acres in the Centennial Neighborhood at SE 167th and Market Street, just west of Patrick Lynch Elementary School. Significant park improvements were completed in Spring 2020, thanks to funding from the 2014 Parks Replacement Bond and Parks System Development Charges. Improvements include a new playground, picnic shelter, paved pathways, a Portland Loo, public art, and a renovated grass soccer field.
All dogs must be leashed in this park.
This park has facilities you can reserve. Booking happens on the city's official systems — every link below goes straight there.
Permit sports fields through PP&R's customer service center.
Assessment dates are copied from the public Parks Amenities layer. Old dates mean this source does not publish a newer assessment for that asset, not that we have confirmed no newer internal inspection exists. PP&R does not publish itemized repair costs, so this ledger shows needs without dollar figures.
Permanent Trash Can is flagged because the public asset record shows fair condition (public code 3).
PP&R does not publish an itemized repair cost for this record, so none is shown.
Permanent Trash Can is flagged because the public asset record shows good condition (public code 1).
PP&R does not publish an itemized repair cost for this record, so none is shown.
Picnic Table is flagged because the public asset record shows fair condition (public code 2).
PP&R does not publish an itemized repair cost for this record, so none is shown.
Picnic Table is flagged because the public asset record shows critical condition (public code 5).
PP&R does not publish an itemized repair cost for this record, so none is shown.
Permanent Bollard is flagged because the public asset record shows fair condition (public code 3).
PP&R does not publish an itemized repair cost for this record, so none is shown.
Permanent Bollard is flagged because the public asset record shows fair condition (public code 3).
PP&R does not publish an itemized repair cost for this record, so none is shown.
Showing all 6 public repair candidates.
https://parks.portlandciviclab.org/parks/verdell-burdine-rutherford-park-244?utm_source=park_qr&utm_medium=sign&utm_campaign=park_244
The public asset layer includes `PictureID` and `Hyper_pic`, but those values point to PP&R internal file-share paths, not public image URLs. Asset-level inspection photos need a PP&R export or public ArcGIS attachments before this app can render them.
Public photo from the official Portland.gov park page