Zimmerman Heritage Farm Historical Park and Gardens
The Vision
Zimmerman Heritage Farm is our cultural heritage, a lasting vestige of East Multnomah County’s agricultural roots. It offers the experience of “life as it really was” in the decades at the turn of the 20th century, reflecting the past through a mirror unique to the Zimmerman family’s farming and domestic life. 
Future Zimmerman Heritage Farm Historical Park
The Zimmerman Heritage Farm is a unique cultural education and recreational resource that is being created for the benefit of the public on a 5.98-acre historic site in Gresham, Oregon. The focal point is the historic Zimmerman House, a Victorian era farmhouse, which was built in 1874 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Master Plan for the Zimmerman Heritage Farm outlines a comprehensive vision and a long-range, phased implementation plan for cultural heritage education and complementary recreation facilities, programs, and special events and activities.
The goal of the master plan is to provide a heritage museum and community park that will become an enduring benefit to the community.
The educational and interpretive focus of the historic house museum is the heritage of the Zimmerman family and dairy farming in East Multnomah County. When fully operational in 10 to 20 years from now, the Zimmerman Heritage Farm is expected to attract over 20,000 visitors a year.
The mission of the Zimmerman Heritage Farm is fundamentally to preserve, restore, and interpret the historic Zimmerman dairy farm site, house, outbuildings, and artifacts and to benefit the community by showcasing its agriculture and dairy farming past. The history museum complex is a cultural heritage resource that will educate visitors about the unique history of the Zimmerman family as well as dairy farming in the region through a variety of interpretive exhibits, educational programs, and special events.
Zimmerman Heritage Garden
Lena’s garden, Olive’s Old Fashioned Shrub Border, Isobel’s Garden, Mabel’s Lilac Border Jessie Mae’s Border, Kitchen Garden, Bulb Garden and much more…
The Zimmerman Heritage Farm’s Garden Committee, Patty Hicks, Lora Price & Ric Catron, have completed the conceptual landscape design for the future Zimmerman Heritage Garden. This beautiful Victorian Garden, like the house, is what most of us at FRW consider the “Jewel of Oregon”.Next phase is to develop the implementation and maintenance portion of the plan.
Ric Catron, City of Gresham Park Planner and liaison to the Zimmerman Heritage Farm, submitted a grant to the Oregon Parks Foundation on behalf of the Fairview-Rockwood-Wilkes Historical Society. As a result of his efforts, FRW was awarded $3000.00 that went towards landscape construction drawings for the Zimmerman Gardens. In 2003, the City transferred the electrical and phone lines underground, converted the property to city water and installed security lighting.
Just a few items on the plant inventory for the Zimmerman Heritage Victorian Garden:
Rosa Multiflora
Pussy Willow
Rugosa Rose
Lilac
Cranberrybush
European Grape
Chinese Wistaria
Siberian Dogwood
Pear Trees
Hydrangea
Persian Walnut
Apple Trees
Oregon White Oak
Saucer Magnolia
Bishops Goutweed
Heartleaf Bergenia
Fennel
Daylilly
Iris
Peppermint
Applemint
Daffodil
Stinkdragon
Grape Arbor Restoration Project
Made Possible Through a Generous Donation By Cedarsource Manufacturing, Inc. and the Volunteer Efforts of:
Don & Susan Stultz
Roy Hoover
Patty Hicks
Twila Mysinger
Chuck & Pat Walker
Dodi Davies
Hands on Portland
and all the other dedicated Zimmerman Volunteers
If you’d like to volunteer out in the garden, please contact us or check our events calendar for regularly scheduled times and places.
