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Portland Council to Consider Renaming Street for Rose Hill, Replacing Andrew Jackson
Portland's City Council will hear testimony Thursday on a proposal to rename three blocks of Southwest Jackson Street to Southwest Rose Hill Street, honoring the late Indigenous leader who helped establish PSU's Native American Student and Community Center.
Portland's City Council will hear public testimony Thursday on a proposal to rename three blocks of Southwest Jackson Street to Southwest Rose Hill Street, replacing the name of President Andrew Jackson with that of a late Oneida Nation member who was instrumental in creating Portland State University's Native American Student and Community Center.
The street currently honors Jackson, the seventh U.S. president, who signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The act led to the forced displacement of tens of thousands of Native Americans, including members of the Oneida Nation.
The renaming effort, which has been years in the making, focuses on the stretch of Southwest Jackson Street in front of and near the student center, which opened in 2003. The proposal follows a community process that included a petition drive by PSU that gathered more than 2,500 signatures earlier this year.
Rose Hill, a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and a PSU graduate, is credited by the city as the "driving force" behind the creation of the student center. She died last year at age 82.
"She was rabid about Jackson," said Tabitha Whitefoot, a former coordinator at the center, noting that the Indian Removal Act particularly harmed the Oneida people. "It was very close to home for her."
LaJune Thorson, president of Portland's Downtown Neighborhood Association, described the current street name as "a daily insult."
Hill's niece, Elsa Hill, called the proposed renaming a "big honor" and recalled her aunt's own words from 2024, when Hill testified before the City Council about the proposal.
"Never in a million years did I ever think that there would be a street named after me," Rose Hill said at the time. "It is a truly remarkable situation that I've lasted this long, and I'm able to see the actual results of it, and I'm going to have a street and I'm replacing Andrew Jackson, the Indian killer. So, hey, how about that?"
PSU President Ann Cudd is scheduled to testify Thursday. In prepared remarks, she wrote: "By finalizing this change, we are aligning our city's physical geography with its stated values of equity and historical truth."
The proposal comes amid a broader national reckoning over monuments and place names that honor figures with histories of violence against Indigenous people and other marginalized groups. If approved, the change would make permanent a symbolic shift that supporters say reflects Portland's commitment to confronting its history.
The council hearing is set for Thursday.