( CNN ) -- The last time Mill Ends Park was in the news , it was full of teeny-tiny plastic police officers , a whole lot of teeny-tiny protest signs , and one scrawny evergreen tree . That 's the kind of place it is , all 452 square inches of it . What 's billed as the world 's smallest park , tucked inside a concrete circle just 2 feet across , is a quirky Portland kind of place . It 's the site of itty-bitty protests -- including that 2011 Occupy Portland protest covered by CNN affiliate KATU -- teensy-weensy swimming pools and way small diving boards -- for the diminutive butterflies , of course . And then , for a short time it seems , someone stole its lone tree . The diminutive evergreen disappeared sometime last week from the downtown street-corner park , KATU reported , citing the Portland Parks and Recreation Department . It was more of a crisis than you might think : The place is also reputedly the home of leprechaun Patrick O'Toole , whom the late Oregon Journal columnist Dick Fagan claimed granted him a wish of having his own park . According to the parks department , Fagan planted flowers in an unused hole in the median outside his newsroom office way back in 1948 . He frequently wrote about it in the years before his death in 1969 , frequently weaving in fanciful tales involving O'Toole and other leprechauns , according to numerous accounts of the celebrated little park . The city took it over on St. Patrick 's Day in 1976 , and good-natured park workers have tended to the tiny plot ever since . So , on discovering the tree was gone , of course they quickly scraped up $ 3.25 for a new one , hurried downtown and planted the replacement before the notoriously fickle-tempered leprechaun could make any trouble , KATU reported . The new tree is a Douglas fir sapling , CNN affiliate KPTV reported . `` It was important to replace it so the leprechaun there had some shade from the sun , '' a suitably deferential park official , Mark Ross , told KATU . But just after the tiny replacement tree was planted , the old tree returned . A driver noticed the diminutive tree Friday `` roots and all , lying on its side just outside the park , '' Portland Parks & Recreation said . Some wondered if tree bandit had felt remorse . `` Whatever the motivation , we are relieved , '' says Portland Parks & Recreation Director Mike Abbate . But police were still on the case . `` Remorse does not mean case closed ' , '' says Portland Police Bureau Sergeant Pete Simpson . `` We will pursue ... our investigation and hope that justice is served , and served swiftly '' . Read more about the theft at KGW . Read KATU 's special on the park from 2011 . CNN 's Jake Carpenter contributed to this report .
A tiny Oregon , Portland , park loses its only tree to theft . At 452 square inches across , Mill Ends Park is billed as the world 's smallest . A newspaper columnist started the park in an abandoned street light hole in 1976 . The city took it over in 1948 .