Search 
Portland History & Historic Sites
Exploring Portland's past can help you better understand the city through the people, buildings, landmarks and legends that make up the city's rich history.
Incorporated in 1851, Portland is a relatively young city with an interesting history. Curious visitors and history buffs alike will find plenty of sights to see and stories to revel in, from sailors and shanghai legends to the “near miss coin toss” (that almost resulted in Portland being named Boston) and the unheralded impact of the Lewis & Clark Centennial Expo of 1905.
An array of rewarding museums greet visitors in Portland, including the Oregon Historical Society, Portland Chinatown Museum, Oregon Maritime Museum, Architectural Heritage Center and more. Near the city, you’ll find the McLoughlin House and Fort Vancouver, along with the end of the Oregon Trail and the site of Willamette Falls, which is culturally significant to local Indigenous tribes, and the site of the Willamette Falls Inter-Tribal Public Access Project.
Moving memorials can also be found:
- The award-winning Japanese American Historical Plaza includes 13 stone markers commemorating the history of the people deported to inland internment camps during World War II.
Hours: 5 a.m.–midnight. Admission: Free. - The contemplative and educational Oregon Holocaust Memorial is set gracefully into a meadow in Portland’s beautiful Washington Park.
Hours: 5 a.m.–10 p.m. daily. Admission: Free. - The somber, understated Vietnam Veterans of Oregon Memorial wraps a wheelchair-accessible spiral path inside a meticulously landscaped bowl of greenery.
Hours: 5 a.m.–10 p.m. daily. Admission: Free.
Historic Attractions
From the first Benson Bubbler to the Lone Fir Cemetery, these sites are worth seeing.
The Portland metro area rests on traditional village sites of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin Kalapuya, Molalla and many other tribes. These groups created communities along the Columbia and Willamette rivers and stewarded the natural resources of the area for thousands of years prior to their forcible removal and the incorporation of Portland.
Early Portland History
Indigenous Peoples
The Portland metro area rests on land stewarded for thousands of years by the Indigenous peoples who first called it home. Portland’s urban Native community now includes roughly 70,000 people from nearly 400 tribes, a testament to their resiliency. Many artifacts of Northwest tribes are on display at the Portland Art Museum’s Center for Native American Art, and the region is home to numerous Native makers, artists, businesses and cultural sites.
Fur Trade and the Oregon Trail
By the early 19th century, fur trading had made its way to what is now Oregon. Shortly after Lewis and Clark’s historic expedition, John Jacob Astor founded the Pacific Fur Trading Company in 1810 and set an expedition to establish Fort Astoria in what is now Astoria, Oregon. In 1825, the British Hudson’s Bay Company established a fur-trading camp at Fort Vancouver, across the Columbia River from modern-day Portland.
From Stumptown to Portland
As a growing number of white colonizers traversed the 2,170-mile (3,490 km) Oregon Trail to seek opportunities and establish settlements along the Willamette River, the future city of Portland became known as “Stumptown.” The thick forest of fir, cedar, hemlock and maple trees was logged for growing settlements.
The city that would be Portland was officially founded in 1843 while its name did not become official until an 1845 coin toss between Asa Lovejoy (of Boston, Mass.) and Francis Pettygrove (of Portland, Maine). You can see the “Portland Penny” that decided the city’s fate — to be called Portland and not Boston — at the Oregon Historical Society in downtown Portland.
Sailors and Shanghai Legends
In the 19th century, Portland rapidly grew into a bustling port town and earned the reputation of “one of the most dangerous port cities of the West Coast.” Hundreds of sailors passed through the port daily. Underground passages, infamously known as the Shanghai Tunnels, were built to move goods from the docks on the Willamette River to the basements of hotels and businesses in Old Town. However, there are more colorful — and disputed — stories about their true purpose.
Historic Architecture
Portland's buildings have some unique stories of their own.
Chinese and Japanese History in Portland
By 1885, Portland’s Chinatown was the second largest in the U.S., with the largest population of Cantonese-Chinese outside of San Francisco. It was also the location of one of two Japantowns in the city. Today, the neighborhood is fittingly home to Portland’s oldest standing buildings and its earliest public artwork, the Skidmore Fountain, built in 1888. The city’s Chinatown Gateway, built in 1986, pays homage to the Cantonese-Chinese immigrants who came to Portland working the railroads or mining for precious metals in Eastern Oregon.
Credit: Jon Kraft
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, 3,676 Japanese Americans from Oregon and southwest Washington were imprisoned by the U.S. government at the facility known today as the Portland Expo Center. The prisoners were confined in hastily converted animal corrals for weeks before being transferred to more permanent camps. When WWII ended, many Japanese and Chinese Portlanders made their way back to Portland but found it difficult to re-establish their businesses amid persistent racism.
While Old Town Chinatown is no longer the economic center for Portland’s Chinese or Japanese populations, it houses several important cultural destinations, including the Japanese American Museum of Oregon, Portland Chinatown Museum and Lan Su Chinese Garden. Today, Southeast Portland’s Jade District is home to many Asian-American businesses, including stellar restaurants and groceries.
Walkable Historic Bridges
A great way to see Portland is while crossing one of the city's iconic bridges.
The City Grows
Outside of Old Town, wealthy landowners such as Henry Pittock were buying large parcels of land. Pittock, owner of The Oregonian newspaper and many other investments, located his mansion atop the West Hills adjacent to Forest Park. The historic 16,000 square-foot (1,486 sq m) Pittock Mansion opened as a museum in 1965.
By 1870, James B. Stephens incorporated the City of East Portland after having established the pre-bridge Stark Street Ferry to connect the east and west sides of the Willamette River. It had over 11,000 residents by 1891, when East Portland, Portland and Albina merged, becoming the city of Portland. At the same time, William S. Ladd’s 126-acre (51 ha) farmland, became the first residential neighborhood in Portland, Ladd’s Addition.
Credit: Nick Mendez Photography
The Lewis and Clark Centennial Expo of 1905 also had a huge impact on Portland’s growth. Over 2.5 million visitors flocked to Portland for the festivities, many of whom elected to move here in the days and months that followed. The resulting population boom is noticeable today in the many homes and sidewalks that date to the 1905–1920 period.
Black History in Portland
Oregon was built on exclusion, with legislation in place at its statehood in 1859 that made it illegal for Black Americans to visit, own property or live in the state. More recent development projects have resulted in the decimation of Black communities such as Albina, the majority Black neighborhood in North Portland, which was paved over in the name of “progress” while displacing over 300 Black-owned homes and businesses near North Williams and Russell Street. This challenging history is reflected today in the relatively small percentage of Black and BIPOC residents of Portland and Oregon. As Portland has grown and attracted immigrants, these policies have limited their opportunities to thrive and build generational wealth in the city.
Vanport and Its Legacy
The roots of another disappeared community can be found near Smith and Bybee Wetlands. In 1942, a WWII shipyard called Vanport was built in 110 days. The Vanport housing project for the workers and their families swiftly became Oregon’s second-largest city, with 40,000 residents at its peak, as many as 40% of whom were Black. But when a flood on Memorial Day in 1948 broke through the nearby levees and destroyed the entire city in a day, the 10,000 remaining inhabitants were displaced into Portland neighborhoods. The history of Vanport and its residents are illuminated by the historical lectures and performances hosted by Vanport Mosaic, and by the annual Vanport Jazz Festival.
More in History
You might also enjoy these other articles related to Portland history.
Was this page helpful?