City of Astoria, Oregon - 1960

2. Astoria Tower

The Astoria Column, in a clearing atop Astoria, Oregon's highest hill, draws an "Oh, Wow!" from most visitors with its spectacular views of the city and its surrounding forest, mountains, rivers, bay and ocean. The Column, built in 1926 for $32,550, is 125 feet high and has 164 steps spiraling to the top. While the view is best from the column's summit it's also pretty impressive from the surrounding park.

Patterned after the Trajan Column in Rome, the Astoria Column is the world's only large piece of memorial architecture made of reinforced concrete with a pictorial frieze in sgraffito technique. The column artwork illustrates the discovery of the Columbia River by Captain Robert Gray in 1792, the establishment of American claims to the Northwest Territory, the winning of the west and the arrival of the Great Northern Railway.