Timeline of Portland, Oregon

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Portland, Oregon, United States.

This is an incomplete list that may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

19th century

• 1850 - The Oregonian newspaper begins publication.^[1]
• 1851
  • Portland incorporated.^[2]
  • Hugh O'Bryant becomes mayor.
  • City's first general merchandise store opens, becoming Olds & King in 1878.
• 1855 - Lone Fir Cemetery established.
• 1857 - Aaron Meier's mercantile store, predecessor of Meier & Frank, in business.
• 1860 - Portland Gas Light Company in operation.^[3]
• 1864 - Library Association of Portland founded.^[4]
• 1866 - Oregon Herald newspaper begins publication.^[1]
• 1868 - Population: 6,717.^[5]
• 1871 - City Park established.
• 1872 - Portland Street Railway horsecars begin operating.
• 1875 - Good Samaritan Hospital founded.
• 1880 - Willamette University College of Medicine relocates to Portland.
• 1882 - River View Cemetery established.
• 1883 - Northern Pacific Railway begins operating.^[6]
• 1886 - Oregon Staats Zeitung newspaper begins publication.^[7]
• 1887 - First Morrison Bridge, the first bridge across the Willamette River in Portland (and predecessor of the current Morrison Bridge), opens^[8]
• 1888 - Portland Zoo established.
• 1890
  • Portland Hotel in business.
  • Population: 46,385.^[6]
• 1891 - Albina and East Portland become part of city.^[6]
• 1892 - Portland Art Association established.
• 1895 - City Hall built.
• 1896 - Union Station opens.
• 1898 - Oregon Historical Society established.

20th century

1900s–1940s

• 1900
  • Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society begins publication.^[9]
  • Population: 90,426.^[6]
• 1901 - Columbia University and Hill Military Academy established.^[6]
• 1903 - Olmsted Portland park plan created.
• 1905 - June 1: Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition opens.
• 1907 - Portland Rose Festival begins.
• 1908 - Reed College founded.
• 1909 - Audubon Society^[10] and Museum Art School founded.
• 1910
  • Hawthorne Bridge opens.
  • Population: 207,214.^[6]
• 1912 - Steel Bridge and Globe Theatre^[11] open.
• 1913 - Broadway Bridge and Central Library building open.
• 1915 - Linnton and St. Johns become part of city.
• 1916
  • City Club of Portland established.
  • Flatiron Building constructed.
• 1917
  • Interstate Bridge opens.
  • Rose Test Garden established.
  • Portland Municipal Auditorium opens.
• 1919 - Louis' Oyster Bar in business.
• 1920 - Population: 258,288.
• 1920s - Pacific International Livestock Exposition facility built.
• 1921 - Blue Mouse Theatre in business.^[11]
• 1922
  • Hoyt Arboretum founded.
  • KGW radio begins broadcasting.
• 1924 - Portland Junior Symphony established.
• 1925 - Sellwood Bridge opens.
• 1926
  • Second (and current) Burnside Bridge opens.^[12]
  • Ross Island Bridge opens.
  • Hollywood Theatre and Temple Beth Israel built.^[12]
• 1927 - Terminal Sales Building constructed.
• 1928 - Portland Publix Theater and Geller's Theatre^[11] open.
• 1930 - Swan Island Airport built.
• 1932 - Portland Art Museum building opens.
• 1938 - Lewis & Clark College active.
• 1940 - Portland Airport built.
• 1944 - Oregon Museum of History, Science, and Industry established.
• 1945 - Portland Symphonic Choir formed.^[13]
• 1946 - Vanport Extension Center (college) and Portland Children's Museum established.
• 1948
  • May 30: Flood destroys Vanport City.
  • Forest Park established.

1950s–1990s

• 1950 - Last city streetcar lines (of the pre-MAX and Portland Streetcar era) cease operation.^[14]
• 1951 - The Portland Hotel closes and is torn down.
• 1952 - KPTV, a UHF station initially, inaugurates television broadcasting in Portland (and Oregon).
• 1953 - KOIN-TV, city's first VHF television station, begins broadcasting.
• 1955 - Portland State College established.
• 1956
  • Rose City Transit established, taking over mass transit service in Portland.
  • KGW begins its television broadcasting.
  • National College of Natural Medicine established.
• 1957 - Metropolitan Service District (regional governmental agency) established.
• 1958
  • Portland Development Commission formed.^[2]
  • Last interurban streetcar lines (until MAX), to Oregon City and Bellrose, cease operating.
  • Portland Zoo Railway begins operating.
  • Third (and current) Morrison Bridge opens.^[2]
• 1959
  • Oregon Centennial Exposition and International Trade Fair held.
  • Portland Zoo (now Oregon Zoo) moves to its current site in Washington Park.
• 1960
  • Veterans Memorial Coliseum and Lloyd Center open.
  • Population: 372,676; metro 881,961.
• 1961 - Portland Community College established.
• 1962
  • KATU television begins broadcasting.
  • October 12: Windstorm, widely known as the Columbus Day Storm.
• 1964 - Christmas flood of 1964
• 1965 - Pittock Mansion (house museum) opens.
• 1967 - Portland Japanese Garden opens.
• 1968 - KJIB and KBOO radio begin broadcasting.
• 1969 - Tri-Met (Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon) established, replacing Rose City Transit.
• 1970 - People's Food Co-op founded.
• 1971
  • Powell's Books in business.
  • Northwest Film Study Center established.
  • World Forestry Center opens.
• 1972
  • April 15: 1972 Portland–Vancouver tornado.
  • First National Bank Tower built.
• 1973 - Fremont Bridge opens.
• 1974
  • Oregon Health & Science University established.
  • Willamette Week newspaper begins publication.
• 1977 - Portland Transit Mall and Adventist Medical Center building open.
• 1978 - Waterfront Park opens.
• 1979 - Save the Refugees Fund (now Mercy Corps) headquartered in city.
• 1982
  • Oregon Food Bank active.^[15]
  • The Portland Building is constructed.
  • Wieden & Kennedy in business.
• 1983 - U.S. Bancorp Tower built.
• 1984
  • Pioneer Courthouse Square opens.
  • KOIN Center built.
  • KKCW radio begin broadcasting
• 1985 - Bud Clark becomes mayor.
• 1986 - MAX Light Rail begins operating.
• 1987 - Oregon Vietnam Veterans Memorial opens.
• 1988 - Oregon Brewers Festival and Waterfront Blues Festival begin.
• 1989 - Oregon Ballet Theatre formed.
• 1990
  • Bicycle Transportation Alliance organized.
  • Population: 437,319; metro 1,523,741.
• 1992 - First Portland Farmers Market
• 1993 - Vera Katz becomes mayor.
• 1995 - Rose Garden arena opens.
• 1996
  • January–February: Willamette Valley Flood of 1996.
  • Earl Blumenauer becomes Oregon's 3rd congressional district representative.^[16]
  • Portland Institute for Contemporary Art founded.
• 1998
  • The 60-year-old Rodgers variety store chain closes its last three stores.
  • Street Roots begins publication.
• 1999 - Urban Greenspaces Institute founded.^[17]

21st century

• 2000
  • Portland Classical Chinese Garden opens.
  • The Portland Mercury newspaper begins publication.
• 2001
  • Portland Streetcar begins operating.
  • Portland International Airport terminal built.
  • Portland Tribune newspaper begins publication.
  • Eastbank Esplanade dedicated.
• 2002
  • Flag of Portland, Oregon design adopted.
  • Willamette Industries taken over by Weyerhaeuser.
• 2003
  • Time-Based Art Festival begins.
  • Voodoo Doughnut in business.
• 2004 - Rose Garden arena bankruptcy.
• 2005
  • Tom Potter becomes mayor.
  • Velveteria: The Museum of Velvet Paintings established.
• 2006
  • Portland Aerial Tram begins operating.
  • The Meier & Frank chain is succeeded by Macy's.
• 2008
  • December: Snowstorm brings Portland's heaviest snowfall in 40 years.
• 2009
  • Sam Adams becomes mayor.
  • July: 2009 Pacific Northwest heat wave.
• 2010 - Population: 583,776; metro 2,226,009.
• 2011
  • October 6: Occupy Portland begins.
  • Street Books begins operating.^[18]
  • Fictional Portlandia (TV series) begins national broadcast.
• 2012 - Suzanne Bonamici becomes Oregon's 1st congressional district representative.
• 2013 - Charlie Hales becomes mayor.

See also

• History of Portland, Oregon
• List of mayors of Portland, Oregon
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Portland, Oregon

References

Further reading

Published in the 19th century

• G. Owens, ed. (1866), "Portland, Oregon", General directory and business guide of the principal towns in the upper country, San Francisco: A. Gensoul 
• John Mortimer Murphy, ed. (1873), "Multnomah County: Portland", Oregon business directory and state gazetteer, S.J. McCormick 
• Harvey Whitefield Scott (1890), History of Portland, Oregon, Syracuse, N.Y: D. Mason & Co. 

Published in the 20th century

1900s–1960s

• Portland, Oregon, its history and builders, Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1911, OCLC 1183569 
  • v.2, v.3
• Sayer, James J. “Our City Councils. II. Portland—the Commission Plan.” National Municipal Review 13 (1924): 502-7.
• Maddux, Percy. City on the Willamette: The Story of Portland, Oregon. Portland: Binford & Mort, 1952.
• Polk's Portland City Directory, Seattle: R.L. Polk & Company, 1957 
  • 1959 ed.
  • 1962 ed.

1970s–1990s

• Paul G. Meriam. “Urban Elite in the Far West, Portland, Oregon, 1870-1890.” Arizona and the West 18 (1976): 41-52.
• Gould, Charles F. “Portland Italians, 1880-1920.” Oregon Historical Quarterly 77 (1976): 239-60.
• MacColl, E. Kimbark (1976). The Shaping of a City: Business and Politics in Portland, Oregon 1885 to 1915. Portland, OR: Georgian Press. OCLC 2645815. 
• MacColl, E. Kimbark (1979). The Growth of a City: Power and Politics in Portland, Oregon 1915 to 1950. Portland, OR: Georgian Press. ISBN 0-9603408-1-5. 
• Paul G. Meriam. “The ‘Other Portland’: A Statistical Note on the Foreign-born, 1860-1910.” Oregon Historical Quarterly 80 (1979): 258-68.
• Toll, William. The Making of an Ethnic Middle Class: Portland Jewry over Four Generations. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1982.
• Carl Abbott. Portland: Planning, Politics, and Growth in a Twentieth-Century City. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983.
• Blackford, Mansell. “The Lost Dream: Businessmen and City Planning in Portland, Oregon, 1903-1914.” The Western Historical Quarterly 15 (1984): 39-56.
• William Toll. “Ethnicity and Stability: The Italians and Jews of South Portland, 1900-1940.” Pacific Historical Review 54 (1985): 161-90.
• E. Kimbark MacColl. Merchants, Money, and Power: The Portland Establishment, 1843-1913. Portland: Georgian Press, 1988.
• Bigelow, William, and Norman Diamond. “Agitate, Educate, Organize: Portland, 1934.” Oregon Historical Quarterly 89 (1988): 5-29.
• Horowitz, David A. “The Crusade against Chain Stores: Portland’s Independent Merchants, 1928-1935.” Oregon Historical Quarterly 89 (1988): 340-68.
• Dodds, Gordon, and Craig Wollner. The Silicon Forest: High Tech in the Portland Area, 1945-1985. Portland: Oregon Historical Society Press, 1990.
• Wollner, Craig. The City Builders: One Hundred Years of Union Carpentry in Portland, Oregon, 1883-1983. Portland: Oregon Historical Society Press, 1990.
• Carl Abbott. “Regional City and Network City: Portland and Seattle in the Twentieth Century.” Western Historical Quarterly 23 (1992): 293-322.
• Harvey, Thomas. “Portland, Oregon: Regional City in a Global Economy.” Urban Geography 17 (1996): 95-114.
• William Toll. “Permanent Settlement: Japanese Families in Portland, 1920.” Western Historical Quarterly 28 (1997): 19-44.
• William Toll. “Black Families and Migration to a Multiracial Society: Portland, Oregon, 1900-1924.” Journal of American Ethnic History 17 (1998): 38-70.

Published in the 21st century

• Barker, Neil. “Portland’s Works Progress Administration.” Oregon Historical Quarterly 101 (2000): 414-41.
• Abbott, Carl (2001). Greater Portland: Urban Life and Landscape in the Pacific Northwest. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-1779-9. 
• Carl Abbott. “Portland: Civic Culture and Civic Opportunity.” Oregon Historical Quarterly 102 (2001): 6-21.
• Pearson, Rudy. “’A Menace to the Neighborhood’: Housing and African Americans in Portland, 1941-1945.” Oregon Historical Quarterly 102 (2001): 158-79.
• Rosenthal, Nicholas G. “Repositioning Indianness: Native American Organizations in Portland, Oregon, 1959-1975.” Pacific Historical Review 71 (2002): 415-38.
• Lansing, Jewel (2003). Portland: People, Politics, and Power, 1851–2001. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press. ISBN 0-87071-559-3. 
• Palahniuk, Chuck (2003). Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon. New York: Crown Journeys. ISBN 1-4000-4783-8. 
• Johnston, Robert. The Radical Middle Class: Populist Democracy and the Question of Capitalism in Progressive Era Portland. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.
• William Toll, ed. (2003). "Commerce, Climate, & Community: A History of Portland & Its People". Oregon History Project. Oregon Historical Society. 
• Mike Lewyn (2007), Debunking Cato: Why Portland Works Better Than the Analysis of Its Chief Neo-Libertarian Critic, Chicago: Congress for the New Urbanism 
• Abbott, Carl (2011). Portland in Three Centuries: The Place and the People. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press. ISBN 978-0-87071-613-3. ; scholarly history

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Portland, Oregon.

• Digital Public Library of America. Items related to Portland, various dates.

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