Mary Drain Albro

Mary Drain Albro dedicated roses, rose gardens and heritage trees to people she believed embodied the pioneer spirit of Old Oregon. Her own family's pioneer heritage laid the framework for the path she would blaze in her later years. Her grandfather Charles Drain brought his family across the plains in 1852, settling near Albany on rich farmlands of the Willamette Valley. Listed in the Oregon State Archives as a member of the Council of the Territorial Government representing Linn County, 1855 through 1857, as Council President in 1858 and as a legislator in pre-admission sessions in 1858, he had quickly assimilated into the community. Mary Drain Albro's father, John Charles Drain, is listed as a legislator representing Drain County in 1870 and as Speaker of the House in 1874. Her father's sister, Catherine Ann Drain, married Simon Robert Lane, brother of General Joseph Lane, in 1865. Although the political career of her grandfather ended prior to her birth, Mary's father remained in politics. This illustrates Mary's exposure to firsthand accounts of pioneer stories from people who were shaping the state of Oregon and thus shaping her conviction to preserve what she could of pioneer heritage. 

By 1871 Charles Drain and his family were living in Douglas County where he founded the town of Drain. Five years later John and Lucy Drain's third daughter, Mary, was born into their household that eventually held eight surviving children. Mary was sent to live with her grandparents, Charles and Nancy, when she was five years old. Mary's father was the first mayor of Drain and been re-elected at the time of his death. When Mary was fifteen the first of a series of tragedies struck; her father died in April, 1891, she lost her mother, Lucy Krewson Drain, six months later in October, 1891, her grandmother Nancy Ensley Drain, died February 23, 1892, two years later grandfather Charles passed away on June 14, 1894.

Around age 18, she left Drain to attend nursing school in San Francisco. Mary was 38 when she married Frank O. Albro in 1914 and her childless marriage ended in divorce twelve years later. After a 40-year career in nursing, Mary Drain Albro boldly embraced a new direction. Within one year she was elected President of the Sons and Daughters of Oregon Pioneers, founded the Pioneer Rose Association and found herself embroiled in a firestorm over Champoeg Park, site of the 1843 Provisional Government of the Oregon Territory, where she had recently been appointed Superintendent. Letters and editorials both supporting her and against her splashed across pages of the Oregonian and Journal newspapers. In 1936 she was removed from her position after taking on the Oregon Highway Department and their plans for a massive project uprooting meadows of Champoeg Park. Her setback at Champoeg only strengthened her fortitude as she became the driving force behind a flurry of plaques, gardens and dedications honoring the memory of the pioneering spirit of Old Oregon.

Mary Drain Albro founded the Pioneer Rose Association in 1936 with other descendants of Oregon pioneer families. Mary's sister Nancy served as an honorary representative. The emblem of the club was the Mission Rose, and their motto read "With the Bible, the Flag, and the Rose, they built the Empire." A first project was designing and building a float for the Grand Floral Parade of the Portland Rose Festival. The float won first place in the club division and earned them $50.00. Roses at the End of the Trail or the Story of the Mission Rose was a pageant performed by 100 students chosen from Portland area schools as part of a celebration. The mission of the Pioneer Rose Association was collecting and cultivating the actual roses that came across the plains or around Cape Horn with pioneers. They also collected stories about the families who brought these roses and felt that the roses would be best preserved by planting them in public spaces where employed gardeners would tend them. Universities and colleges seem to be a good match. In the prior year of 1935, Mary had initiated and been approved to plant pioneer roses at Lewis and Clark College in Portland. Her research indicated that a rose she called the Lewis and Clark dated back to 1805. Unfortunately, the rose no longer exists on campus and the scientific nomenclature may never be determined. 

In May 1938, the Pioneer Rose Association planted at garden at Willamette University in Salem. Mary dedicated the planting of a Mission Rose to Anna Maria Pitman Lee, wife of Jason Lee. The planting dedication honored the 100th anniversary of Anna Maria's passing. She died in June 1838 during childbirth, less than one year after she was married. During an interview Mary said the rose was restored to its original home on the historical campus at the Willamette University, once the humble dooryard of the famous Lee mission. Attendees included the Rose Festival Queen and members of the Royal Rosarians.

Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington became the next site for a small rose garden. Dedicated in May 1939, five Rosavirginiana bushes were planted to honor the memory of Narcissa Prentiss Whitman. Mrs. Whitman was killed in what has become known as the 1847 Whitman Massacre. Dr. Walter Bratton, college president said in his speech that in the fullest sense Mrs. Whitman was the pioneer mother of the Pacific coast. Several Royal Rosarians overlooked their rule of not leaving Oregon and attended the ceremony. 

Mary honored Tabitha Moffat Brown at Pacific University in Forest Grove in May of 1942. The Old Memorial Rose was planted as a tribute to Mrs. Brown, who founded a school for orphans that eventually became Pacific University. In 1846 Mrs. Brown survived an especially difficult entry into the Willamette Valley on the South Road of the Applegate Trail. They were led off the trail to a shortcut that almost cost them their lives through starvation and blizzard conditions. They were lost in the same snow storm that overtook the Donner Party in California. Mrs. Brown was sixty-six years old when she made her heroic fifty mile walk through deep snow. She finally arrived in Salem on Christmas Day and was able to save other members of her party. Leland Hess, master of ceremonies, at the dedication said Pacific University was selected for this garden  because of the important part the University has played in the pioneering of the state.

At the Mother's Memorial Cabin at Champoeg State Park, Mary Drain Albro dedicated a rose garden in 1948. The cabin museum was built in 1931 and is maintained by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Several of the organization's members became strong supporters of Mary's work. They felt that younger generations should be educated about the importance of preserving the history of Oregon's pioneers as well as preserving of its heritage roses. 

The Pioneer Rose Association organized several events at the historic 1855 Lone Fir Cemetery in Portland. In 1937, a small plaque was placed on the namesake Lone Fir tree. Two years later, members of the association replaced it with a larger bronze plaque. Due to transportation problems, the 1941 annual Champoeg Meeting was relocated to Lone Fir Cemetery and a dogwood tree was dedicated. The rose garden, planted several years earlier, possibly in 1943, received a formal dedication in Mary 1948. Also at that time, an Oregon maple tree was dedicated in honor of General Joseph Lane and a granite marker supplied. A new bronze marker was placed in the rose garden in 1956 after the garden was turned over to Multnomah County. Additionally, the Pioneer Rose Association identified many of the specimen trees with small bronze nameplates.

The dedication of a plaque at Pacific University took place in May 1949. Mary Drain Albro presented her manuscript, papers and a flag flown on the famed Battleship USS Oregon. In a May 1941 tribute to Mother's Day, the Pioneer Rose Association had exhibited 16 varieties of Old Time Roses aboard ship and Mary received the flag as an honorable gift.

After 13 years of service, the Pioneer Rose Association disbanded. In the end, the Pioneer Rose Association was the work of Mary Drain Albro. She collected twenty-three roses she believed came across the plains, around Cape Horn or had a connection to Oregon pioneer history. She grew thousands of roses from cuttings she collected and recorded many stories. She said about some of her roses, their history may not be pure but the stories are good. She began this labor of love during the Great Depression and working with a typewriter pounded out many hundreds of pages of letters, manuscripts, programs and speeches. Before she passed away in Salem, Oregon in 1962 she could see her work beginning to disappear. Her heritage roses and gardens were dug up, replanted with modern roses, or left to perish from neglect. 

Mary Drain Albro would be pleased to know her only remaining rose garden, Roses of Old Oregon, planted in Lone Fir Cemetery was one of the components that led to the 2007 listing of the cemetery on the National Register of Historic Places. The garden is tended by Friends of Lone Fir Cemetery and will be restored following Oregon State Historic Preservation Office guidelines. Mary Drain Albro blazed the Pioneer Rose Trail and laid the path for others to follow. She is honored for her contributions to Oregon on a naming wall at the Walk of the Heroines on the Portland State University campus in downtown Portland.

Valentine's Day 2011 marked the 75th anniversary of the Pioneer Rose Association. In commemoration, Pacific University and Northwest Rose Historians made arrangements for a fitting tribute to Mary Drain Albro planting a Mission Rose. 

Honored by: Northwest Rose Historians; Alex R. Toth, Special Collections Librarian, Pacific University Library, Forest Grove, Oregon; Friends of Lone Fir Cemetery. Written by Laura King and Kathleen McMullen with research by Mike Dalton. 1949 Photograph courtesy of Pacific University. Please note: Dates and information were extracted from Mary Drain Albro's writing, newspaper articles and correspondence. Although we strive for accuracy there were discrepancies in sources used for research.