History

First Theft, Then Recovery, and Now Restoration for a Historic Oregon Quilt

Fifteen women of color worked together to stitch the quilt, which is almost 50 years old.

12/04/2020 By Ainslee Dicken

Feature

The Rise and Fall of Kah-Nee-Ta

The once-darling vacation spot is practically a ghost town. What happened?

10/10/2020 By Juhea Kim

Podcasts

New History Podcast Investigates a Famous Murder in Montana

Portland writer Zach Dundas helped produce Death in the West.

10/06/2020 By Margaret Seiler

Basketball

When Portland's WNBA Team Lit Up the Rose Garden

Kansas connections (and fast food) fueled the short-lived Portland Fire.

10/06/2020 By Jarrett Van Meter

Oregon, Whose Oregon?

Oregon’s 1920s-Era State Song Is Nakedly Racist

After nearly a century, is this the year “Oregon, My Oregon” will finally get a rewrite?

10/05/2020 By Gabriel Granillo and Julia Silverman

Electric Avenue

This Map of Local Neon Signs Is a Walk Through of Old Portland History

Kate Widdows is helping show off our city's "exceptional collection of neon."

09/23/2020 By Sam Pape

Podcasts

The Spotted Owl, the Timber Economy, and the Epic Conflict that Defined Our Forests

Timber Wars host Aaron Scott talks about the new OPB pod, science writing, and the ongoing battle over Pacific Northwest forests.

09/22/2020 By Gabriel Granillo

History

125 Years Ago, Hundreds of Climbers Undertook a Mass Ascent of Mount Hood

And on the summit, they founded the Mazamas alpine club.

06/25/2019 By Rebecca Jacobson

Free Wheeling: History

Think Portland Is Obsessed with Bikes Today? Meet the Wheelpeople of 1890s Stumptown.

The dream of the 1890s is alive in modern bike culture.

05/28/2019 By Rebecca Jacobson

History

This Sand Is Our Sand: Why Oregon's Beaches Belong to Everyone

Oregonians believe our 300 miles of coastline are free and open to everyone. Only hardball politics made that true.

07/10/2017 By Brent Walth

History

40 Years Ago, Pelé Played His Last Game—Ever—in Portland

In 1977, the Brazilian soccer star bowed out in the Rose City.

07/10/2017 By Marty Patail

PREHISTORY

Does Oregon's Vanished Coastline Hold the Secrets of the First Americans?

Archaeologist Loren Davis has a radical theory about when (and where) humans first arrived on our continent.

06/13/2016 By Benjamin Tepler

HISTORY

How Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters Reinvented the Road Trip

Fifty years ago, Oregon's iconic novelist launched American counterculture on a long, strange ride.

07/01/2014 By Zach Dundas