The monument was designed by
Roland Hinton Perry, the sculptor of the
Court of Neptune Fountain at the
Library of Congress and
Commonwealth, the statue atop the dome of the
Pennsylvania State Capitol. The fountain and
bronze sculpture was donated by former
Portland mayor David P. Thompson in 1900 to commemorate the elk that once lived in the area. Wright had planned to complete the monument in time for a
Fourth of July dedication to coincide with a city street carnival, but delays from removing nearby trees, widening Main Street, and connecting city water pipe forced Wright to delay completion of the monument. The
Elk was lifted into position in late August, and the Thompson Fountain was finished the first week of September 1900. A carnival sponsored by the Portland
Elks Club began that week, and
The Oregonian informed its readers, "this is not a carnival elk." According to the city, the Exalted Order of Elks refused to dedicate it because they considered the statue "a monstrosity of art." A reporter for
The Oregonian in 2020 explained that, "part of the problem might have been that [the Perry sculpture] didn't quite capture the animal found in Oregon's wilds," as it depicts neither an
Olympic elk nor a
Rocky Mountain elk. In 1974, Thompson's Elk and the Plaza Blocks were designated as Historic Landmarks by the city's Historic Landmarks Commission, under the name
David P. Thompson Fountain. The sculpture appeared in
Gus Van Sant's 1991 film
My Own Private Idaho, where the elk was shown with a rider on it. The artwork was surveyed by the
Smithsonian Institution's "
Save Outdoor Sculpture!" program in 1993.
Vandalism and removal Over the years, the statue has been vandalized many times. The elk was vandalized during the
Occupy Portland protests (2011), and had the antlers repaired in early 2012. The statue was tagged with anti-
Trump messages in 2016. On July 1, 2020, during the
George Floyd protests, people protesting police violence built bonfires in two planter boxes beneath the elk statue. The resulting structural damage to the granite base supporting the sculpture was deemed a safety hazard by the
Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC). The city removed the damaged bronze elk sculpture for cleaning on July 2. The status of the Elk fountain remained to be determined. Following the
deployment of federal forces to Portland, it was reported that as of July 30, the bare mound where the statue once stood remained a site of activity, with demonstrators arguing for and against its continued use for bonfires.
Nightmare Elk Following the removal and storage of the statue, an unknown artist erected what came to be known as the
Nightmare Elk in its place. The statue was later taken by a crew led by a Patriot Prayer supporter.
Reinstallation Construction on the fountain and statue replacement began on July 7, 2025. ==See also==