History of Portland, Oregon

[2] The land today occupied by Multnomah County, Oregon, was inhabited for centuries by two bands of Upper Chinook Indians.

The site of the future city of Portland, Oregon, was known to American, Canadian, and British traders, trappers and settlers of the 1830s and early 1840s as "The Clearing,"[5] a small stopping place along the west bank of the Willamette River used by travelers en route between Oregon City and Fort Vancouver.

As early as 1840, Massachusetts sea captain John Couch logged an encouraging assessment of the river's depth adjacent to The Clearing, noting its promise of accommodating large ocean-going vessels, which could not ordinarily travel up-river as far as Oregon City, the largest Oregon settlement at the time.

Legend has it that Overton had prior rights to the land but lacked funds, so he agreed to split the claim with Lovejoy, who paid the 25-cent filing fee.

[6]Bored with clearing trees and building roads, Overton sold his half of the claim to Francis W. Pettygrove of Portland, Maine, in 1845.

[9]In December 1849, William W. Chapman bought what he believed was a third of the overall claim for $26,666, plus his provision of free legal services for the partnership.

[citation needed] In January 1850, Lownsdale had to travel to San Francisco to negotiate on the land claim with Stark, leaving Chapman with power of attorney.

Lownsdale returned to Portland in April 1850, where the terms were presented to an unwilling Chapman and Coffin, but who agreed after negotiations with Couch.

[9] Portland existed in the shadow of Oregon City, the territorial capital 12 miles (19 km) upstream at Willamette Falls.

However, Portland's location at the Willamette's confluence with the Columbia River, accessible to deep-draft vessels, gave it a key advantage over the older pier.

It was already the largest settlement in the Pacific Northwest, and while it could boast about its trading houses, hotels and even a newspaper—the Weekly Oregonian—it was still very much a frontier village, derided by outsiders as "Stumptown" and "Mudtown.

"[citation needed] It was a place where "stumps from fallen firs lay scattered dangerously about Front and First Streets ... humans and animals, carts and wagons slogged through a sludge of mud and water ... sidewalks often disappeared during spring floods.

[11] In 1854, the city council voted to form the Portland Fire Department, and following an 1857 reorganization it encompassed three engine companies and 157 volunteer firemen.

[12] A major fire swept through downtown in August 1873, destroying 20 blocks along the west side of the Willamette between Yamhill and Morrison.

[15]: 55 Portland was the major port in the Pacific Northwest for much of the 19th century, until the 1890s, when direct railroad access between the deepwater harbor in Seattle and points east, by way of Stampede Pass, was built.

Goods could then be transported from the northwest coast to inland cities without the need to navigate the dangerous bar at the mouth of the Columbia River.

[21] In 1940, Portland was on the brink of an economic and population boom, fueled[22] by over $2 billion spent by the U.S. Congress on expanding the Bonneville Power Administration, the need to produce materiel for Great Britain's increased preparations for war, as well as to meet the needs of the U.S. home front and the rapidly expanding American Navy.

The newcomers became permanent residents, building up black political influence, strengthening civil rights organizations such as the NAACP calling for antidiscrimination legislation.

The Vanport Extension Center, a small college built to help veterans of World War II, moved to Downtown and became what is now Portland State University.

The McClellan Commission determined in the late 1950s that Portland not only had a local crime problem but also a situation that had serious national ramifications.

[27] As early as 1943, highway planner Robert Moses was commissioned by the city to create a system of improvements for after the World War II.

The eastside freeway was so hated that the in a formal complaint, the Portland Arts Commission described it as "so gross, so lacking in grace, so utterly inconsistent with any concept of aesthetics".

[32] The highway and most of the former buildings' sites were turned into Tom McCall Waterfront Park, and Front Avenue was widened to become a boulevard.

A new regional government agency, the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District (Tri-Met), replaced Rose City Transit in 1969 and the "Blue Bus" lines—connecting Portland with its suburbs—in 1970.

The Oregon National Guard and civilian volunteers participated in a massive sand-bagging effort which was maintained until the floodwaters retreated.

Many of these performers embrace Portland's "weirdness" including the Unipiper, a unicycling bagpiper who wears a Darth Vader mask, and Working Kirk Reeves, a trumpet player and juggler known for his crisp white suit and Mickey Mouse hat.

[58] In 2024, the city announced plans to put back the statues of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt.