Posted on Feb 8, 2022
Portland then and now: A look back at the city’s history on the anniversary of its incorporation
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Oregon’s largest city was incorporated on this day 171 years ago – but the place we know as Portland now almost had a different name.
In 1845, business partners Asa Lovejoy and Francis Pettygove determined the name of a new and growing town on the Willamette River through the flip of a penny. Lovejoy was from Boston, Massachusetts. Pettygrove was from Portland, Maine. Pettygrove won the toss — and the naming rights.
Six years later, on Feb. 8, 1851, the city was officially incorporated under the name it had become known by.
The “Portland Penny” is on display at the Oregon Historical Society.
In 1845, business partners Asa Lovejoy and Francis Pettygove determined the name of a new and growing town on the Willamette River through the flip of a penny. Lovejoy was from Boston, Massachusetts. Pettygrove was from Portland, Maine. Pettygrove won the toss — and the naming rights.
Six years later, on Feb. 8, 1851, the city was officially incorporated under the name it had become known by.
The “Portland Penny” is on display at the Oregon Historical Society.
Portland then and now: A look back at the city’s history on the anniversary of its incorporation
Posted from opb.orgPosted in these groups: 
Portland
American History
Portland American History
Posted >1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Before the Oregon Trail settlers
Long before that fateful coin toss, and before there was a anniversary of incorporation to celebrate, the land now designated “Portland” was first home to the Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, bands of Chinook, Tualatin Kalapuya and Molalla tribes who established communities and seasonal traditions along the Willamette and Columbia rivers. Today, Portland has the nation’s ninth largest urban Native American population.
White settlers began the venture west along the Oregon Trail in the 1840s. Thousands of new arrivals quickly poured into the territory.
In 1850, Congress passed the Oregon Donation Land Act. The federal law stripped tribes of their land, giving it to whites who stepped foot in the region less than a generation earlier. Settlers claimed 2.5 million acres of tribal land, including the sites that formally became Portland a year later."...
..."Before the Oregon Trail settlers
Long before that fateful coin toss, and before there was a anniversary of incorporation to celebrate, the land now designated “Portland” was first home to the Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, bands of Chinook, Tualatin Kalapuya and Molalla tribes who established communities and seasonal traditions along the Willamette and Columbia rivers. Today, Portland has the nation’s ninth largest urban Native American population.
White settlers began the venture west along the Oregon Trail in the 1840s. Thousands of new arrivals quickly poured into the territory.
In 1850, Congress passed the Oregon Donation Land Act. The federal law stripped tribes of their land, giving it to whites who stepped foot in the region less than a generation earlier. Settlers claimed 2.5 million acres of tribal land, including the sites that formally became Portland a year later."...
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