Astoria Column

Electus D. Litchfield planned the mural, and Attilio Pusterla created its scenes using sgraffito. He scratched white plaster over a dark plaster base. Workers built a rope-hung wooden scaffold around the column so artists could install his designs. Pusterla sometimes destroyed the previous day’s work if it failed his standards. The scenes include meetings with the Chinook and Clatsop Tribes, Captain Robert Gray’s 1792 arrival at the Columbia River, and the end of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The images trace local history from before explorers arrived to the railway’s arrival.

1. 1926Great Northern president Ralph Budd commissioned the tower, funded by the railway and Vincent Astor. Dedicated on July 22, it commemorates the Astor family’s business history in Astoria and the West’s discovery, exploration and settlement. Its design drew on Trajan’s Column in Rome and the Place Vendôme Column in Paris.
2. 1974The column was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
3. 1995The murals were refurbished.
4. 2004A granite plaza was added.
5. November 2007–August 2009The staircase closed for safety in November 2007 and reopened in August 2009.