ESSAY

A History Sleuth Tracks Down Portland’s Most Mysterious Founder—and Unearths a Much Rougher Origin Story Than You Know

According to Randall Trowbridge, primordial Portland was less “Little House on the Prairie and a little more Deadwood.”

07/12/2016 By Leah Sottile

ARCHITECTURE

Yes, the Memorial Coliseum Is Now a "National Treasure"

The symbolic designation could save the controversial 56-year-old stadium from the wrecking ball.

06/10/2016 By Lisa Dunn

FESTIVAL

A New Festival Memorializes Vanport, Beyond the Flood

At the Vanport Mosaic Festival, former residents of what was once Oregon's second-largest city—destroyed by a 1948 flood—tell their stories.

05/26/2016 By Rebecca Jacobson

HISTORY

Slide Show: The Columbia River Highway Turns 100

The state-of-the-art road was designed to make Oregon “the playground of America.”

05/19/2016

HISTORY

One History Sleuth’s Radical Theory: Everything We Know About How Portland Began Is Wrong

The pursuit of a shadowy founding father winds deep into Portland’s Deadwood days.

05/19/2016 By Leah Sottile

HISTORY

Here's How Bad the Corruption Was in Prohibition Portland

A new book on local crime and vice makes Portland's modern-day "scandals" seem quaint.

02/01/2016 By Marty Patail

5 THINGS ABOUT

Union Station Turns 120

We visit our iconic train station’s past and predict its future.

01/25/2016 By Katie Vaughan

NEWS

Facing Closure, 'Know Your City' Transitioning to Volunteer Model, Raising Emergency Funds

The 6-year-old social justice non-profit seeks to raise $12,000 to survive 2016.

12/21/2015 By Marty Patail

THE HISTORY ISSUE

The Heroes, Villains & Rogues Who Shaped Portland

Worrying about “keeping the city weird?” Don’t. As these tales reveal, Portland has always been stranger, bloodier and more fascinating than you ever imagined.

11/23/2015 Edited by Zach Dundas

HISTORY

The Visionary Parks Designer Who Transformed Portland

The unlikely tale of the power brokers, rebellious hippies, and genius architect behind Portland’s first modern neighborhood

11/23/2015 By Randy Gragg

BLOOD & INK

The Portland Newspaper Wars of the 1960s

At the dawn of modern media, a ruthless tycoon and a ragtag band of reporters waged a desperate battle for control of Portland’s news.

11/23/2015 By Caleb Diehl

DIE, VERMIN!

This is the Woman Who Saved Portland from the Black Death

Dr Esther Pohl endeavored to kill all of Portland's rats to save the city—and succeeded.

11/23/2015 By Merilee Karr

HIGH ALTITUDE HATERS

Which Portland Newspaper Magnate Climbed Mt Hood First?

Portland’s most awkward collegial dispute ever rages on, more than 150 years later: who conquered the mountain?

11/23/2015 By Rick Conrad

AXIS & ALLIES

The American Pilot

The story of Hazel Ying Lee, first Chinese American woman to fly for the US military.

11/23/2015 By Bill Lascher

AXIS & ALLIES

The Imperial Minister

As combat raged around the world, one Oregonian became a war criminal.

11/23/2015 By Bill Lascher

OUR PATRON SAINT

The Scandalous History of Booze in Portland

From the whiskey-swilling frontier days to Prohibition’s battling “dries” and rumrunners, booze formed Portland’s civic soul.

11/23/2015 By Zach Dundas

PHOTOGRAPHY

Intimate Photos of Warhol and Basquiat Reveal the Artsy Grit of ‘80s NYC

From Warhol to Basquiat to Miles Davis, see some of Paige Powell's 10,000 photographs of the NYC art scene in a new Portland Art Museum exhibition.

10/19/2015 By Fiona McCann

PORTLAND FOOD

5 Things About James Beard, Portland's Original Foodie

The first chef on television still captures our hearts and culinary imagination

08/24/2015 By Zach Dundas and Marty Patail

STYLE HISTORY

Century-Old Underwear (And Other Victorian-Era Fashion) Graces the Pittock Mansion

The renowned local mansion/museum lays out some antique finery.

08/03/2015 By Rachel Sandstrom

5 Things About

How McMenamins Pioneered Beervana

Some tasty tidbits from the ubiquitous pub on every corner

05/26/2015 By Brian Yaeger and Rachel Davidson

History

A History Sleuth Tracks Down Portland’s Most Mysterious Founder—and Unearths a Much Rougher Origin Story Than You Know

Yes, the Memorial Coliseum Is Now a "National Treasure"

A New Festival Memorializes Vanport, Beyond the Flood

Slide Show: The Columbia River Highway Turns 100

One History Sleuth’s Radical Theory: Everything We Know About How Portland Began Is Wrong

Here's How Bad the Corruption Was in Prohibition Portland

Union Station Turns 120

Facing Closure, 'Know Your City' Transitioning to Volunteer Model, Raising Emergency Funds

The Heroes, Villains & Rogues Who Shaped Portland

The Visionary Parks Designer Who Transformed Portland

Popular Content

Is Oregon Addicted to the Lottery?

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Top Things to Do This Weekend: July 11–14

New Portland Coworking Space Wants to Set Us Free from the Traditional Work-Life Separation

Fernweh, a New Dehydrated Food Company, Is Changing the Backpacking Game

The Portland Newspaper Wars of the 1960s

This is the Woman Who Saved Portland from the Black Death

Which Portland Newspaper Magnate Climbed Mt Hood First?

The American Pilot

The Imperial Minister

The Scandalous History of Booze in Portland

Intimate Photos of Warhol and Basquiat Reveal the Artsy Grit of ‘80s NYC

5 Things About James Beard, Portland's Original Foodie

Century-Old Underwear (And Other Victorian-Era Fashion) Graces the Pittock Mansion

How McMenamins Pioneered Beervana

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