was dedicated in June 1924 with Currey as the first curator. He served until his death in 1927. A stone bench in the garden honors Currey's work as founder. City of Roses The official and most common nickname for Portland is the "City of Roses", or "Rose City". According to Charles Paul Keyser, Portland Parks Superintendent from 1917 to 1950, the first known reference to Portland as "The City of Roses" was made by visitors at an Episcopal Church convention in 1888. The city's first annual rose show was held the following year, and by 1904, the Portland Rose Society began sponsoring fiestas to accompany the shows. The nickname grew in popularity after the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, when mayor Harry Lane suggested that the city needed a "festival of roses". The first Portland Rose Festival was held two years later and remains the city's major annual festival a century later. The Portland Rose Society, which offers educational programs on "rose culture" and advocates the use of roses in the landscape, remains in operation today. In Portland, the nickname is often attributed to Leo Samuel, who founded the Oregon Life Insurance Company in 1906 (known today as Standard Insurance Company). Samuel grew roses outside his home and placed a pair of shears outside his garden, so people could snip a rose from his garden to take for themselves. On June 18, 2003, the city council unanimously approved a resolution adopting "the City of Roses" as the city's official nickname. Gardens Many rose gardens are found throughout Portland, the most prominent of which is the International Rose Test Garden. Peninsula Park became the city's first public rose garden in 1909 when it was purchased for $60,000 ($ in ) with funds raised in a 1908 bond measure. Designed by Emanuel L. Mische, the garden contains 8,900 plantings featuring 65 rose varieties. Mme. Caroline Testout, the official rose of Portland, was grown at Peninsula Park. In 1913, the park was chosen as the location for an annual rose show, where it remained until Washington Park was selected as the location of the International Rose Test Garden in 1917. The park remains a popular Portland tourist destination, with more than 9,500 rose bushes representing over 600 varieties. The Ladd's Addition neighborhood contains four diamond-shaped rose gardens originally designed by William Sargent Ladd in the 1890s. Emanuel Mische designed landscaped areas in