Portland's history demonstrates the exuberant yet diligent spirit of its inhabitants. Throughout its history, Portland has shown a talent for knowing where it wants to go and how to get there. But perhaps most impressive is the knack of the Portlanders to have fun and enjoy life along the way.
In 1843, William Overton and Asa Lovejoy first set foot on the land of future Portland. Overton saw great potential in the fertile and beautiful area and wished to file a land claim. He agreed to share this privilege with Lovejoy in return for the 25 cents he needed to make the claim. With Lovejoy's fateful quarter and Overton's vision, the 640-acre site became known as "The Clearing."
However, Overton had a history of being a drifter and shortly thereafter sold his part of the claim to Francis Pettygrove, an Oklahoma City merchant. Once again a single coin shaped the future of the city. Pettygrove won the famous coin toss to name the town after his native Portland, Maine as opposed to Lovejoy's choice of Boston. Portland became a city on January 14, 1851.
From early on, trade fueled Portland's growth. There was very little actual industry or natural resource exploitation in Portland, but rather the burgeoning city depended on its trade relationships and location to grow and prosper.
There were 4 main sources of income for Portlanders, many of which centered on the active trading relationship that Portland maintained with San Francisco.
- Portland imported manufactured goods, which were then distributed to the rest of the northwestern region of the country.
- Many merchants helped farmers by extending credit to them and buying their goods, which were then taken to San Francisco for resale. When these businesses expanded to a certain level, several became banks that were then able to provide a firm foundation to the city's economy.
- Merchants that had become successful with these ventures also turned to land investment in and around Portland. They would buy cheap tracts of land, and then as the city expanded, land developers would buy the tracts from these merchants to develop.
- Merchants invested in local industries such as shipping, wool manufacture, paving, and others. Sometimes they created monopolies, which increased prices of a particular service - much to the frustration of those paying the prices.
However, not all of Portland's early history was a fairy tale story of growth and prosperity. Because the city's government depended mostly on license fees, it was a difficult and slow process to implement government services.
Portland also had a squalid, dark side beginning in the late 1800s with an hotelier known as "Bunco" Kelly. He was but one of many hotel and bar owners in the city that would intoxicate young men and then sell them to ship captains. The captains would set sail with the unconscious youths who would then have no choice but to work or be thrown overboard. Bunco Kelly was the most notorious and boasted that he could man an entire ship in less than 12 hours. Occasionally Kelly would have trouble meeting his promises and would have to resort to strange and unusual measures. Reputedly he sold 22 dead men to one captain who did not discover the ruse until already out of port. In another incident, he stole the wooden Indian statue from the local store and sold that to a different captain.
Eventually this trend shifted as solid jobs became available and changes were made to control corruption. Simon Benson helped lead these improvements. He made a fortune as a lumber baron and was a dedicated philanthropist. He did not drink and chastised his men when he smelled alcohol on their breath one day. Upon learning that there was no fresh water to drink downtown he had 20 drinking fountains built, which became known as Benson Bubblers. These Bubblers reputedly decreased beer consumption in the city by 25% and continue to provide fresh water to the downtown area to this day.
Sources:
( http://www.ohs.org ) (Accessed July 20, 2004)
( http://www.lonelyplanet.com ) (Accessed July 20, 2004)
( http://www.travelportland.com ) (Accessed July 20, 2004)