We offer three different tours of downtown Portland, all geared toward the 3rd grade curriculum. However, we can accommodate older students upon special request.
All tours include information about Portland’s history, architecture, culture and public art. Each tour addresses a mixture of 14 third-grade Oregon State Standards.
When you are ready to REQUEST A TOUR, you may choose from one of the following:
1. Two-hour in-person walking tour
2. One-hour classroom presentation with slides.
Tours Offered
Students explore Old Town to discover Portland’s early history, including its earliest piece of public art, the Skidmore Fountain. Visit Chinatown and some of the oldest buildings in Portland.
Walk through Portland’s Cultural Center, including the Park Blocks, City Hall, the Performing Arts Center, the Great Plank Road, Portlandia, and numerous pieces of public art and a courthouse.
Elevator up to the 26th floor of Big Pink, where students see a panorama of our city. Students explore local architecture and art, as well as the transit mall and Pioneer Square.
Touring Seasons
Fall Touring Season. October through mid-November
Spring Touring Season: Late March through mid June
Tour Locations
Early City:
Starting and Ending Point: Skidmore Fountain (SW 1st and Ankeny)
Becoming a City:
Starting Point: SW 5th and Pine.
Ending Point :SW 10th and Yamhil
Life in the City:
Starting Point: Oregon Historical Society. (1230 SW Park)
Ending Point: World Trade Center (2nd Ave., between SW Salmon and SW Taylor)
After you request a tour…
You will receive an email confirming we received your request. The scheduler for the requested tour will let you know if the date you requested is available. Once the date is confirmed your head guide will call you 10-14 days before the tour and provide you with our Teacher Packet. Please advise the Head Guide of any special arrangements your group may require and if there are specific areas of interest for your students. . Students who are well-prepared experience a superior tour.
Any questions? E-mail us at UTGinformation@gmail.org
After the tour: Please complete and mail the evaluation form your head guide gives you. Your input is valuable to us.
Our guides enjoy hearing from the students following the tour. If they do write us, please use the guides’ names provided to you on the day of the tour.
Objectives
Our tours are designed to acquaint students with the Portland urban community. We hope to foster the concepts of civic pride and service, and to help students see themselves as responsible caretakers of the city. Your tour will focus on Portland’s history and landmarks, noting what keeps our city alive and healthy, and how the city changes to meet the needs of its citizens.
Policies
More than fifty years of Urban Tour experience have enabled us to compile this list of policies that help to ensure that the tour is enjoyable for all involved.
- Should a problem arise en route to your tour, use your school as your message center
- In case of emergency during the tour, be sure teachers and parent helpers have the school’s telephone number.
- At the beginning of the tour, your tour guide will explain the tour expectations to the accompanying adult and students. Please help enforce these expectations.
- One adult per eight children is required in supervising the students. Children with special needs will require more chaperones. No extra adults, siblings, preschoolers, strollers, etc. can be accommodated. Please be sure to distribute the Chaperone Letter to all accompanying parents.
- To maintain a safe environment for our tour participants and Urban Tour Group volunteers, to align with weapons policies of the schools we tour, and to ensure entrance to all buildings, including those with security check-points, participants are not allowed to carry guns (even with permits) or other weapons, including small pocket knives, on the tour.
- We observe a “no eating or snacking” rule on the tour. We strongly suggest giving your students a snack, such as graham crackers, yogurt, etc. en route to the tour. Lunches should stay on the bus or in backpacks.
- Have students dress appropriately for the weather. No umbrellas please!
- Unruly groups will be taken to the end of the tour and will remain with the guide and the adult accompanying that group. Please advise your helpers of this possibility
- Adults should carry photo identification.
More Information
For more information about Portland and Oregon history, try the links below
City of Portland
Portland Chamber of Commerce
Oregon Historical Society
Lewis and Clark Facts