Go Back

Ida Bell Jones Park in Rose Village

Share Ida Bell Jones Park in Rose Village on Facebook Share Ida Bell Jones Park in Rose Village on Twitter Share Ida Bell Jones Park in Rose Village on Linkedin Email Ida Bell Jones Park in Rose Village link

Welcome to Your New Park, Rose Village!

We are so grateful to everyone who came out to celebrate the opening of Ida Bell Jones Park on Nov. 19. Below is a video with some of the highlights from this wonderful event. We hope everyone will find time to visit the park to connect with neighbors and nature in Rose Village.


New Park Name Will Celebrate Rose Village History

Thank you to the Rose Village residents who took the park naming values survey in July! The responses were clear, neighbors want the new park name to educate the community, celebrate diversity and recognize underrepresented stories in Vancouver.

With these goals in mind, Vancouver City Council approved the name recommended by the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission. The new park is named in honor of early Rose Village resident, Ida Bell Jones.


Ida Bell Jones, 1908-2018


Ida Bell Jones was known as a matriarch of Vancouver's post-WWII African American community. Born in 1908 outside of Blackwell, Arkansas, she moved to Vancouver at age 34 and eventually settled in Rosemere (now Rose Village). Despite living in Rosemere, Jones was also connected to the African American community in North Portland and built connections on across the river for the benefit of both communities.

African Americans in Vancouver faced considerable discrimination in finding employment. Jones' pivotal work in developing a network of trusted employers and organizations in both Portland and Vancouver was fundamental to the community’s economic survival.

Recalling Ida Bell Jones from his childhood in Vancouver, Rites of Passages Youth Program director Charles LaRue Simmons described her as “...everyone’s mother... She was someone to either turn to for help or keep an eye out for when they were mischievous."

Not much has been written about Jones to date, but interviews with her have been preserved in the book First Families of Vancouver’s African American Community from World War II to the 21st Century.

Plans for a Park Grand Opening Celebration will be coming together soon! Contact Melody Burton to join the planning committee.


Prior to WWII, Vancouver could be described as the small county seat of a rural area. The economy centered around agriculture and natural resources, including fruit and vegetable production, lumber, fishing, and mills. These industries are captured in many of our current place names like Salmon Creek, Orchards, Mill Plain, and Fruit Valley. The demand for warships to support WWII brought a new economy to Vancouver, and with it came a cherished migration story for many.

Between 1940 and 1943, 39,000 people moved to Vancouver to work in the Kaiser Shipyards. The number of Kaiser employees alone was more than double the total population of Vancouver three years prior. The influx of opportunity and subsequent population boom strained the existing infrastructure. Schools ran in double shifts and the Vancouver Housing Authority (VHA) was established to rapidly build 11,000 units of temporary housing for the workers.

The demographics of Vancouver had been predominately white prior to 1940 and diversified somewhat during its expansion. Many people sought the economic opportunity created by the shipyards, but African American families in particular moved to Vancouver to flee domestic terror and Jim Crow racism present in the South. This brought its challenges, as longtime residents adjusted to cross-racial interactions and as new residents came to understand the indirect prejudices and systemic racism of their new home.

While the VHA took a position against segregated housing, they housed people on a first-come first-served basis which some remember led to de facto segregation as the train cars leaving the South were segregated and those carrying Black families were frequently grouped together and delayed.

When the shipyards and temporary housing were dismantled after the war, Black families intending to stay coordinated their search for permanent housing so that the community would be geographically dispersed, sacrificing the benefits of a place-based community for security and to avoid long-term disinvestment in their neighborhoods as seen in Portland.

The families that stayed faced an uphill battle in finding skilled employment to replace their steady shipyard income. According to historian Melissa Williams, the African American population in Vancouver dropped from 8,825 in 1944 to just 494 in 1960. Those that were able to put down roots and hang on through the post-war era call themselves the "First Families" and women like Ida Bell Jones were essential to the community's resilience.


The new park in Rose Village is located at the corner of T Street and East 35th Street.

An initial master plan for this 0.5-acre park was created in 2011 and revised it in 2021 through a community survey. Construction at the park will began in Summer 2022 and is expected to be completed by Fall 2022.

The City of Vancouver is exploring ways that the process of naming new parks can better represent the diversity of our city. The Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services department believes that naming some parks after local figures, events and histories from underrepresented backgrounds can help residents see themselves and one another as valued parts of a shared Vancouver history.

In early 2022, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission (PRAC) created a Park Naming Committee (PNC) to name a new park in Vancouver’s Rose Village neighborhood.

The Naming Committee's goal is to take a community-centered approach to select a park name that highlights the diversity of our city and honors Vancouver’s underrepresented experiences, individuals, or events. This project is an opportunity to ensure the park-naming process reflects the values of the community going forward.

The committee identified five values to guide their research and decision making:
  • Celebrate the diversity of our community
  • Make sure historically underrepresented voices are heard in the naming process
  • Contribute to a sense of shared history
  • Educate the community about people, places and events that have made a positive impact on Vancouver
  • Build relationships and partnerships that support future park naming efforts
Including the new park in Rose Village in the pilot project process allows the Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services department to examine, edit and measure the success of the process before codifying it as policy. Naming this new park is an opportunity to create a welcoming public space that can educate, celebrate and inspire the community.

A pilot park-naming project was initiated in Fall 2020 to increase civic engagement, highlight the diversity of our community and honor Vancouver’s history. Vancouver’s diversity is an asset and honoring local events or figures from underrepresented backgrounds can help residents see themselves and one another as valued parts of our shared history.

Before the pilot project, it was common for housing developers to name parks during their planning process. This came at the cost of public input, cultural inclusion, and expression of a shared history. In 2020, community interest in the park naming process grew. Parks and Recreation identified two locations to test a new process for park naming. The outcomes of the pilot project will inform future updates to the Park Naming Policy. The first phase of the pilot project led to the naming of Nikkei Park in the North Image neighborhood in 2021.


Welcome to Your New Park, Rose Village!

We are so grateful to everyone who came out to celebrate the opening of Ida Bell Jones Park on Nov. 19. Below is a video with some of the highlights from this wonderful event. We hope everyone will find time to visit the park to connect with neighbors and nature in Rose Village.


New Park Name Will Celebrate Rose Village History

Thank you to the Rose Village residents who took the park naming values survey in July! The responses were clear, neighbors want the new park name to educate the community, celebrate diversity and recognize underrepresented stories in Vancouver.

With these goals in mind, Vancouver City Council approved the name recommended by the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission. The new park is named in honor of early Rose Village resident, Ida Bell Jones.


Ida Bell Jones, 1908-2018


Ida Bell Jones was known as a matriarch of Vancouver's post-WWII African American community. Born in 1908 outside of Blackwell, Arkansas, she moved to Vancouver at age 34 and eventually settled in Rosemere (now Rose Village). Despite living in Rosemere, Jones was also connected to the African American community in North Portland and built connections on across the river for the benefit of both communities.

African Americans in Vancouver faced considerable discrimination in finding employment. Jones' pivotal work in developing a network of trusted employers and organizations in both Portland and Vancouver was fundamental to the community’s economic survival.

Recalling Ida Bell Jones from his childhood in Vancouver, Rites of Passages Youth Program director Charles LaRue Simmons described her as “...everyone’s mother... She was someone to either turn to for help or keep an eye out for when they were mischievous."

Not much has been written about Jones to date, but interviews with her have been preserved in the book First Families of Vancouver’s African American Community from World War II to the 21st Century.

Plans for a Park Grand Opening Celebration will be coming together soon! Contact Melody Burton to join the planning committee.


Prior to WWII, Vancouver could be described as the small county seat of a rural area. The economy centered around agriculture and natural resources, including fruit and vegetable production, lumber, fishing, and mills. These industries are captured in many of our current place names like Salmon Creek, Orchards, Mill Plain, and Fruit Valley. The demand for warships to support WWII brought a new economy to Vancouver, and with it came a cherished migration story for many.

Between 1940 and 1943, 39,000 people moved to Vancouver to work in the Kaiser Shipyards. The number of Kaiser employees alone was more than double the total population of Vancouver three years prior. The influx of opportunity and subsequent population boom strained the existing infrastructure. Schools ran in double shifts and the Vancouver Housing Authority (VHA) was established to rapidly build 11,000 units of temporary housing for the workers.

The demographics of Vancouver had been predominately white prior to 1940 and diversified somewhat during its expansion. Many people sought the economic opportunity created by the shipyards, but African American families in particular moved to Vancouver to flee domestic terror and Jim Crow racism present in the South. This brought its challenges, as longtime residents adjusted to cross-racial interactions and as new residents came to understand the indirect prejudices and systemic racism of their new home.

While the VHA took a position against segregated housing, they housed people on a first-come first-served basis which some remember led to de facto segregation as the train cars leaving the South were segregated and those carrying Black families were frequently grouped together and delayed.

When the shipyards and temporary housing were dismantled after the war, Black families intending to stay coordinated their search for permanent housing so that the community would be geographically dispersed, sacrificing the benefits of a place-based community for security and to avoid long-term disinvestment in their neighborhoods as seen in Portland.

The families that stayed faced an uphill battle in finding skilled employment to replace their steady shipyard income. According to historian Melissa Williams, the African American population in Vancouver dropped from 8,825 in 1944 to just 494 in 1960. Those that were able to put down roots and hang on through the post-war era call themselves the "First Families" and women like Ida Bell Jones were essential to the community's resilience.


The new park in Rose Village is located at the corner of T Street and East 35th Street.

An initial master plan for this 0.5-acre park was created in 2011 and revised it in 2021 through a community survey. Construction at the park will began in Summer 2022 and is expected to be completed by Fall 2022.

The City of Vancouver is exploring ways that the process of naming new parks can better represent the diversity of our city. The Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services department believes that naming some parks after local figures, events and histories from underrepresented backgrounds can help residents see themselves and one another as valued parts of a shared Vancouver history.

In early 2022, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission (PRAC) created a Park Naming Committee (PNC) to name a new park in Vancouver’s Rose Village neighborhood.

The Naming Committee's goal is to take a community-centered approach to select a park name that highlights the diversity of our city and honors Vancouver’s underrepresented experiences, individuals, or events. This project is an opportunity to ensure the park-naming process reflects the values of the community going forward.

The committee identified five values to guide their research and decision making:
  • Celebrate the diversity of our community
  • Make sure historically underrepresented voices are heard in the naming process
  • Contribute to a sense of shared history
  • Educate the community about people, places and events that have made a positive impact on Vancouver
  • Build relationships and partnerships that support future park naming efforts
Including the new park in Rose Village in the pilot project process allows the Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services department to examine, edit and measure the success of the process before codifying it as policy. Naming this new park is an opportunity to create a welcoming public space that can educate, celebrate and inspire the community.

A pilot park-naming project was initiated in Fall 2020 to increase civic engagement, highlight the diversity of our community and honor Vancouver’s history. Vancouver’s diversity is an asset and honoring local events or figures from underrepresented backgrounds can help residents see themselves and one another as valued parts of our shared history.

Before the pilot project, it was common for housing developers to name parks during their planning process. This came at the cost of public input, cultural inclusion, and expression of a shared history. In 2020, community interest in the park naming process grew. Parks and Recreation identified two locations to test a new process for park naming. The outcomes of the pilot project will inform future updates to the Park Naming Policy. The first phase of the pilot project led to the naming of Nikkei Park in the North Image neighborhood in 2021.


Page last updated: 23 Nov 2022, 01:31 PM