The building that once stood on the southwest corner of the cemetery was built in 1952 by Multnomah County. Prior to that time, this was Block 14 of Lone Fir Cemetery. This section was set aside for Chinese immigrants, and referred to as the Old Chinese Burial Ground. Chinese have been in Portland since 1850 and were integral in the building of the city. They performed much of the most brutal work building railroads, mining, and in Portland also built the seawall, the original sewer system and chopped the stumps out of the roads after the ancient fir trees were cut. They chopped firewood and ran laundries and grew produce for the entire town.

According to Chinese custom, immigrants were buried here for a short time, with their bones later dug up and returned to China, to be reunited with their ancestors. This went on for a time, until the County wanted the land for use as a maintenance yard for the highway department. In 1948, this block was excavated with a bulldozer. All remains found were packed off to China and the building was built shortly thereafter.

In January of 2004, Multnomah County held a hearing, planning to sell the property as surplus, to the highest bidder, presumably for a high-rise condo/business establishment. Friends of Lone Fir Cemetery was able to notify community members and packed the hearing room with 150 people. Over the course of the next six months, information was gathered which indicated that intact burials might well exist beneath the asphalt here.

Records at the Oregon Historical Society and the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA) showed that not all of the Chinese buried here were meant to be returned to China, and had probably been left when the excavation occurred in 1948. County Commissioner Maria Rojo de Steffey commissioned an archaeological investigation. Using ground-penetrating radar for a preliminary test, several anomalies were identified. In January 2005, a team of archaeologists found two intact burials. At this point, it became clear that this land, still classified as a cemetery and a historical landmark, could not be sold for commercial development. The County recognized its civic duty to remove the building and repatriate it with the rest of Lone Fir Cemetery.

In 2007, the building was removed; the ground was leveled and returned to grass. Multnomah County and the City of Portland of Portland collaborated to complete the project and then deeded Block 14 over to Metro, which manages the rest of Lone Fir Cemetery.

In 2008, the Block 14 Work Group comprised. Coordinated by Metro, the work group comprises representatives from Friends of Lone Fir, CCBA, Buckman Neighborhood Association and other community groups. Lango Hansen Landscape Architects is leading efforts to create a memorial to honor the Chinese who helped build Portland. With more than 130 of Dr. Hawthorne’s patients buried nearby, a memorial to the asylum patients who died without family, and were given a decent burial by the good doctor, has also been designed. Creating an entrance to the cemetery that reflects its original look and feel as well as an interpretive area that shares the history of Portland through a timeline of Lone Fir Cemetery, are also a part of the plans being considered. These enhancements to the cemetery will elevate its significance to Portland. Like many great cities around the world that encourage the community and visitors from around the world to learn about its oldest cemeteries, Portland will do the same with Lone Fir.