City of Portland Multnomah County, Oregon

"William "Bill" Sumio Naito (1925-1996) was a remarkable and visionary individual--the Portland-born son of Japanese immigrants who became one of the city's most significant business and civic leaders. Every day thousands of people drive on Naito Parkway alongside Portland's Waterfront Park, yet little has been written about the man for whom it was named. In this first biography, Erica Naito-Campbell, Bill's granddaughter, shows how his story is also the story of Portland, the city he loved. Naito's life, from the Great Depression and World War II through Portland's rebirth in the 1970s and its profound growth, tracked most of the major events in the city and was the catalyst for many of them. Through hard-earned success in importing and real estate with his brother Sam, Naito came to wield considerable power in the city, and his leadership led to much of what we consider iconic Portland today: the "Portland Oregon" sign near the Burnside Bridge, the annual Christmas tree in Pioneer Courthouse Square, and Harbor Drive's conversion to Waterfront Park. Naito's name became synonymous with civic leadership, whether it was growing Portland's urban tree canopy, revitalizing its downtown, or preserving historic buildings. But less is known about his difficult childhood--with a father who worked twelve-hour days and a mother whose treatment of him was harsh at best--and the racism he endured during World War II. After the expulsion of Japanese Americans following Pearl Harbor and his military service in Occupied Japan, Naito overcame great emotional turmoil to return to Portland and become one of its greatest change-makers."-- Provided by publisher

x, 278 pages : illustrations, map, portraits ; 23 cm

"Situated in the rugged hills west of downtown Portland, Forest Park is the nation's premier urban natural sanctuary. It supports essential habitat for hundreds of native plants and animals, including species at risk, and is one of the largest city parks in the world. While extending critical ecosystem services to the region, it covers miles of outstanding hiking trails, all within minutes of the downtown core. Forest Park: Exploring Portland's Natural Sanctuary showcases this treasure in a new light, offering a compendium of the most up-to-date and comprehensive information available. Twenty-one hikes covering seventy-five miles bring a full awareness of the park's outstanding attributes. Hikes are grouped by theme to encourage people to explore Forest Park's watersheds, geology, lichens and mosses, vegetation, amphibians and reptiles, pollinators, native wildlife, and wildlife corridors. Beautiful photographs and full-color maps accompany each trail description. Forest Park is a shining example of the Pacific Northwest western hemlock community-an ecosystem unique among all temperate forests of the world. It is also an exciting model for a future Urban Biodiversity Reserve, a concept that would recognize the park's scientific, natural, and cultural qualities. Forest Park will help all visitors discover the beauty and wonders of this extraordinary natural resource"-- Provided by publisher

xv, 216 pages : color illustrations, color maps ; 23 cm

"A treasure trove of facts and factoids, original photos, people, events, weird and picturesque Portland... Your indispensable reference and compact field guide to the great architecture in the one square mile of today's central Portland." --Back cover

viii, 106 pages : chiefly color illustrations, map, charts ; 23 cm

In 1942, after Executive Order 9066 was issued, Japanese families were removed from their homes in Oregon and the Yakima Valley and sent to the Portland International Livestock Exposition Center, where they were housed in converted animal stalls. The Wartime Civil Control Administration forcibly held these Japanese Americans at the Portland Assembly Center until September 1942, when they were transferred to newly built permanent incarceration camps at Minidoka, Heart Mountain, and Tule Lake. The Japanese American communities in Oregon and southern Washington were relatively small and many of the detainees knew each other; they drew on existing family and community networks to help each other through the long summer, living in inhumane conditions under the constant threat of violence. Several members of Bara Ginsha, a Portland poetry group, decided to continue their work while imprisoned at the center, primarily by writing senryū, a type of Japanese poetry related to haiku. They Never Asked is a collection of work produced by Bara Ginsha members in the WCCA camp, based on a journal kept by Masaki Kinoshita. The senryū collected here were written by a group of twenty-two poets, who produced hundreds of poems. Individually, the poems reflect the thoughts and feelings the authors experienced while being detained in the center; collectively, they reflect the resilience and resistance of a community denied freedom. Editors Shelley Baker-Gard, Michael Freiling, and Satsuki Takikawa present translations of the poems alongside the originals, supplemented by historical and literary context and a foreword by Duane Watari, Masaki Kinoshita’s grandson.

xiv, 185 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 23 cm

"In the months leading up to the 2020 presidential election, Portland made national news with nightly social justice protests, often met with violent response by counter protestors and law enforcement. Though frequently regarded as a progressive hub, Portland has a long history of racial inequality and oppression, and the city's entrenched divisions gained new attention during the Trump years. The photographs in Protest City present a visceral visual record of this significant moment in Portland's history. Rian Dundon, who has been photographing the rise of extreme politics on the West Coast since 2016, lived only a short walk from the protests that erupted after the murder of George Floyd. For one hundred days, Dundon enmeshed himself in the demonstrations with an unobtrusive point-and-shoot camera. The result is a graphic portrayal of how social movements become politicized, how spectacle serves as a subtext to change in the digital age, and how modern protests blur distinctions among performance, ritual, and surveillance. As he follows the progress of Portland's conflicts, Dundon draws connections to Oregon's legacy as a stronghold of white supremacist extremism and interrogates the role of whiteness in racial justice movements. Dundon's striking photos recreate the immediacy and impact of the protests, while a foreword by journalist Donnell Alexander and introduction by historian Carmen P. Thompson contextualize the uprising's sociopolitical background. A chronology and author's note are also featured"-- Page 4 of cover

xxviii, 187 pages : color illustrations ; 26 cm

"Portland, Oregon, 1988. The brutal murder of Ethiopian immigrant Mulugeta Seraw by racist skinheads shocked the city. In response disparate groups quickly came together to organize against white nationalist violence and right wing organizing throughout the Rose City and the Pacific Northwest. It Did Happen Here compiles interviews with dozens of people who worked together during the waning decades of the 20th century to reveal an inspiring collaboration between groups of immigrants, civil rights activists, militant youth, and queer organizers. This oral history focuses on participants in three core groups: the Portland chapters of Anti Racist Action and Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice, and the Coalition for Human Dignity. Using a diversity of tactics-from out-and-out brawls on the streets and at punk shows, to behind-the-scenes intelligence gathering-brave antiracists unified on their home ground over and over, directly attacking right wing fascists and exposing white nationalist organizations and neo-Nazi skinheads. Embattled by police and unsupported by the city, these citizen activists eventually drove the boneheads out of the music scene and off the streets of Portland. This book shares their stories about what worked, what didn't, and ideas on how to continue the fight"-- Provided by publisher

xiii, 282 pages : illustrations, map ; 23 cm

"In this companion volume to his 2012 book Oregon Plans: The Making of an Unquiet Land-Use Revolution, Sy Adler offers readers a deep analysis of Portland's Urban Growth Boundary. As part of Oregon's land-use system, urban areas are required to define a UGB, a line containing urban sprawl and separating it from agricultural land and open space. In Planning the Portland Urban Growth Boundary, Adler argues that acknowledging the Portland growth boundary in 1979 was the most significant decision the Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission has ever made, and, more broadly, is a significant milestone in American land-use planning. Planning the Portland Urban Growth Boundary primarily covers the 1970s, the period during which the initial boundary was planned at the regional level and acknowledged as compliant with Oregon's statewide Urbanization goal. Adler's central argument is that while state and regional planning institutions were established in response to concerns about sprawl, planners working for those institutions had to confront the reality that various plans developed and implemented by city and county governments around the Portland metro would instead allow the sprawling to continue. Regional planners labeled these as "Trend City" plans, and sought to transcend and transform them during the 1970s and thereafter. Adler discusses the dynamics of these partially successful efforts and the conflicts that characterized the development of the UGB during the 1970s-between different levels of government, and between public, private, and civic sector advocates. When the regional UGB is periodically reviewed, these conflicts continue, as debates about values and technical issues related to forecasting future amounts of population, economic activity, and the availability of land for urban development over a twenty-year period roil the boundary planning process"-- Provided by publisher

ix, 261 pages : map ; 23 cm

"This book is a non-fiction study of the lives of ten different sculptors and the key public sculptures each contributed to the landscape and identity of Portland, Oregon, between 1900 and 2003. Each chapter examines the history of how these artworks were created, the challenges each sculptor faced, and how these artworks in a variety of sculpture media have contributed to the public arts scene of Portland into the twenty-first century. For its discussion of historical sculpture unique to Portland, a researched examination is made into those subjects selected by each sculptor, where influences of national identity, patriotism, symbolic representation, and the lives of each sculptor help to better understand the history and forces at work which brought these sculptures into existence. Interviews with two of the sculptors offer personal insights into their creative process: from the studio design to final installation in Portland. From Roland Hinton Perry and Alice Cooper, to James Lee Hansen and Raymond Kaskey, sculptures ranging from bronze castings of U.S. presidents, to other historical and allegorical figures in copper and marble, the author provides an in-depth review and presentation of Portland's public art as never seen before"-- Publisher's website

128 pages : illustrations (some color), portraits ; 24 cm

The extraordinary story of one of the keystones of victory in WW2. Churchill famously claimed that the only thing that had really frightened him during the war was the Battle of the Atlantic. Keeping open the lifeline between the US “arsenal of democracy” and the UK was essential to preparations for the invasion of Europe and in the final analysis this came down to building merchant ships faster than German U-boats could sink them. Crucial to this achievement was the British-designed “Liberty Ship,” a simple cargo ship that could be built rapidly, combined with the untapped industrial potential of the U.S. that could build them in vast numbers. Undoubtedly the most important individual in the rapid expansion of U.S. wartime shipyard capacity was Henry Kaiser, a man with no previous shipbuilding experience but an entrepreneur of vision and drive. This book tells the story of how he established huge new yards using novel mass-production techniques in the most surprising location―Oregon, one of the least industrially developed areas of the US and one without an existing pool of skilled labor to draw on.

256 pages : illustrations, maps ; 27 cm

"The definitive biography of America's best-known and least understood food personality, and the modern culinary landscape he shaped. After World War II, a newly affluent United States reached for its own gourmet culture, one at ease with the French international style of Escoffier, but also distinctly American. Enter James Beard, authority on cooking and eating, his larger-than-life presence and collection of whimsical bow ties synonymous with the nation's food for decades, even after his death in 1985. In the first biography of Beard in twenty-five years, acclaimed writer John Birdsall argues that Beard's struggles as a closeted gay man directly influenced his creation of an American cuisine. Starting in the 1920s, Beard escaped loneliness and banishment by traveling abroad to places where people ate for pleasure, not utility, and found acceptance at home by crafting an American ethos of food likewise built on passion and delight. Informed by never-before-tapped correspondence and lush with details of a golden age of home cooking, The Man Who Ate Too Much is a commanding portrait of a towering figure who still represents the best in food"-- Provided by publisher

xiv, 449 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm

"Eleanor Baldwin and the Woman's Point of View is an intellectual biography of a long-forgotten radical female journalist in Portland, whose daily women's columns provide a window into the breadth of intellectual radicalism in Progressive Era journalism. Baldwin was one of an early generation of female journalists who were hired to lure female readers to the daily newspaper's department store advertisements. Instead of catering to the demands of consumerism, Baldwin quickly brought an anti-capitalist, antiracist agenda to her column, "The Woman's Point of View." She eschewed household hints and instead focused on the immorality of capitalists and imperialists while emphasizing the need for women to become independent and productive citizens. A century before the Occupy movement and the Women's March, Baldwin spoke truth to power. Imbued with a New Thought spirituality that presumed progressive thought could directly affect material reality, she wrote to move history forward. And yet, the trajectory of history proved as hard to forecast then as now. While her personal story seems to embody a modern progressivism, blending abolition with labor reform and anti-banker activism--positions from which she never wavered--her path grew more complicated as times changed in the aftermath of World War I, when she would advocate on behalf of both the Bolsheviks and the Ku Klux Klan. In this deeply researched and nuanced account of Eleanor Baldwin's intellectual journey, historian Larry Lipin reveals how even the most dedicated radical can be overcome by unforeseen events. Eleanor Baldwin and the Woman's Point of View restores a missing chapter in Portland's Progressive Era history and rescues this passionate, intriguing, and quixotic character from undeserved obscurity."-- Provided by publisher

xiv, 253 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

In her latest book, Rebecca Harrison takes you back in time over 150 years to ride the grand Columbia and Willamette Rivers on the the sternwheelers of the mid 1800's. Meticulously researched, Aboard the Portland: A history of the Northwest Steamers tells the exciting story of these trade and transport ships, and explores how the Portland survived time and harsh work to become one of the last operating steam sternwheelers in America

1 online resource (171 pages : black and white illustrations)

This work describes the monumental accomplishments of the World War II shipyards in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington. Working twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, they built and launched thousands of vessels--Liberty ships, Victory ships, tankers, aircraft carriers, submarine chasers, and many kinds of landing craft--to help defeat the Axis powers and preserve the way of life of the free world. Robert La Du viewed firsthand these activities from his home overlooking shipyards on the Willamette River. His father worked at Albina shipyard, his sister worked at Henry Kaiser's Swan Island shipyard, and he himself, as a high school student, worked nights at Commercial Iron and Steel shipyard. These experiences inform and enhance the pages of Her Finest Hour.

170 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Portland, Oregon, though widely regarded as a liberal bastion, also has struggled historically with ethnic diversity; indeed, the 2010 census found it to be “America’s whitest major city.” In early recognition of such disparate realities, a group of African American activists in the 1960s formed a local branch of the Black Panther Party in the city’s Albina District to rally their community and be heard by city leaders. And as Lucas Burke and Judson Jeffries reveal, the Portland branch was quite different from the more famous—and infamous—Oakland headquarters. Instead of parading through the streets wearing black berets and ammunition belts, Portland’s Panthers were more concerned with opening a health clinic and starting free breakfast programs for neighborhood kids. Though the group had been squeezed out of local politics by the early 1980s, its legacy lives on through the various activist groups in Portland that are still fighting many of the same battles. Combining histories of the city and its African American community with interviews with former Portland Panthers and other key players, this long-overdue account adds complexity to our understanding of the protracted civil rights movement throughout the Pacific Northwest.

283 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Summary: In 150 inforgraphic maps, two leading geographers explore Portland, Oregon, through unexpected topics such as city chickens, wild coyote encounters, food-truck trends, and coffee culture. Each map starts with the gathering of at least one data set about a given topic, then translating that into visual form which blends traditional cartographic skills with modern graphic design

190 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), color maps, color plans ; 26 cm

A firsthand look at one of the world’s most livable cities, this fun take on the guidebook genre explores the atmosphere of Portland, Oregon, versus detailing its landmarks and restaurants. It both explains and embraces how beautiful and ridiculous Portland life can be, and includes essays on everything from the rain and bicycling to beards and tater tots. With its approachable and often hilarious tone, this book is perfect for anyone who wants to learn more about the city that is earning its way onto more and more top cities lists each year.

62 pages : illustrations, map

A compact and comprehensive history of Portland from first European contact to the twenty-first century, Portland in Three Centuries introduces the women and men who have shaped Oregon’s largest city. The expected politicians and business leaders appear, but Carl Abbott also highlights workers and immigrants, union members and dissenters, women at work and in the public realm, artists and activists, and other movers and shakers. Incorporating social history and contemporary scholarship in his narrative, Abbott examines current metropolitan character and issues, giving close attention to historical background. He explores the context of opportunities and problems that have helped to shape the rich mosaic that is Portland. This revised and updated second edition includes greater attention to the Indigenous peoples of the Portland region, Portland’s communities of color, and the challenges of recent years that have thrust Portland into the national spotlight. A highly readable character study of a city, and enhanced by more than sixty historic and contemporary images, Portland in Three Centuries will appeal to readers interested in Portland, in Oregon, and in Pacific Northwest history.

192 pages : illustrations, maps ; 26 cm

The second edition of the highly acclaimed Wild in the City brings more than one hundred of the best parks, trails and natural areas to your fingertips. This comprehensive “must-have” reference will be the go-to field guide for hikers, cyclists, paddlers, bird watchers, and nature enthusiasts. This revised and updated edition contains new maps organized according to watershed and includes twenty-eight unique “rambles” that explore multiple sites for recreation, wildlife viewing, or simply contemplating the joys of nature. New natural history essays by Ursula K. Le Guin, Kim Stafford, Robin Cody, Judy BlueHorse Skelton, Robert Michael Pyle, Jonathan Nicholas, and Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, offer fresh perspectives on the little pockets and expansive corridors of Portland’s wild environs. The book also examines the innovative strategies that cities, agencies, and nonprofits are using to create an ecologically sustainable metropolitan region. This invaluable resource will be an essential guide for educators and parents who want to explore the region’s natural wonders with their students and children. Included are tips on living with wildlife, as well as a new section that provides essential information on how urban living and green spaces intersect.

xx, 427 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

In April 1956, Portland Oregonian investigative reporters Wallace Turner and William Lambert exposed organized crime rackets and rampant corruption within Portland’s law enforcement institutions. The biggest scandal involved Teamsters officials and the city’s lucrative prostitution, gambling, and bootlegging operations. Turner and Lambert blew the cover on the Teamsters’ scheme to take over alcohol sales and distribution and profit from these fringe enterprises. The Rose City was seething with vice and intrigue. The exposé and other reports of racketeering from around the country incited a national investigation into crime networks and union officials headed by the McClellan Committee, or officially, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field. The commission discovered evidence in Portland that helped prove Teamsters president Dave Beck’s embezzlement of union funds and union vice president Jimmy Hoffa’s connection to the mob. Dark Rose reveals the fascinating and sordid details of an important period in the history of what by the end of the century had become a great American city. It is a story of Portland’s repeated and often failed efforts to flush out organized crime and municipal corruption - a familiar story for many mid-twentieth-century American cities that were attempting to clean up their police departments and municipal governments. Dark Rose also helps explain the heritage of Portland’s reform politics and the creation of what is today one of the country’s most progressive cities.

xiii, 202 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

The Central Library, Benson Hotel, Reed College, the Meier & Frank building, the U.S. National Bank—these are just a few of the grand Portland icons designed by Albert E. Doyle. During a period of rapid growth in Portland, Oregon, after the Lewis & Clark Centennial Exposition and before the Great Depression, Doyle (1877-1928) was the city’s most important architect. Beauty of the City is the first biography of this celebrated architect. Doyle’s career was short, just twenty-one years. Yet everywhere Portland retains his imprint. Many of Doyle’s classical, often white terra-cotta buildings became venerable city landmarks. He also designed Portland residences, Neahkahnie beach cottages, and houses and banks in Oregon and Washington. Using A. E. Doyle’s own diaries and letters and his firm’s records, historian Philip Niles traces the architect’s life and times in the context of the burgeoning cityscape. As Portland expanded beyond its frontier origins and provincialism, Doyle helped introduce Eastern and European sophistication. Indeed, his refined sensibility influenced the development of the Northwest Regional Style by Pietro Belluschi and John Yeon, among others. Doyle set the standard for elegance and proportion that later architects adapted to more modern styles—his standard defines Portland’s vibrant core and contributes to the city’s beauty as much today as it did 80 years ago. Readers interested in Northwest history and culture will appreciate this compelling and richly illustrated biography of “Portland’s architect.” Likewise, architectural historians and those seeking to better understand Portland’s architectural heritage will enjoy reading of Doyle’s contributions to this celebrated cityscape. “All new things built with the idea of preserving the beauty of the city and adding to it." -A. E. Doyle

xvi, 278 pages : illustrations, map ; 26 cm

Portland strikes a graceful balance between the rich traditions of its past and the creative developments of modern architecture. Written for both layperson and professional, An Architectural Guidebook to Portland is filled with history and photos that demonstrate why this city is one of the most admired in the nation. Portland's civic planning, historic preservation, and overall attractiveness are all explored in detailed profiles of structures ranging from 19th-century cast-iron front buildings to sleek modern skyscrapers. Now revised and updated to reflect Portland's explosive growth in the 21st century, this second edition includes an added focus on the development of "green buildings" and sustainable design, a chapter on downtown bridges, and expanded coverage of the city's vibrant neighborhoods. With over 250 entries that tell the stories behind Portland's celebrated cityscape, this comprehensive guide is an indispensable resource for visitors and Portlanders alike. Don't miss Bart King's Architecural Guide to Portland, a mobile site for the Web and mobile devices, which features rotating content from the book.

viii, 320 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

This is the definitive book on Portland's political history, beginning in 1845 when a 16-lot townsite was laid out on the bank of the Willamette River and continuing through the sesquicentennial of Portland city government. Jewel Lansing has amassed a treasure trove of information on Portland's civic and political life, which she presents in a lively volume, organized around accounts of the successive reigns of Portland's mayors. The story is rich in anecdotes that bring to life the unique individuals and controversial issues of Portland's distant and more recent past. Lansing shows that Portland's path to its present place as the 28th largest city in the United States, with a deserved reputation as one of the nation's most livable cities, has not always been smooth. Corruption, profiteering, and wide-open vice characterized the City of Roses at the turn of the 20th century, and every era has had its own controversies and rivalries: disputes over railroad franchises and rights-of-way, women's suffrage, public versus private power, the Chinese Exclusion Act, Prohibition, and the siting of freeways, to name just a few. Anyone with an interest in Portland, and in learning more about the individuals, events, and issues that have shaped it, will find this comprehensive history fascinating and informative. About the author: Jewel Lansing served as the elected City of Portland Auditor from 1983 to 1986 and as Multnomah County Auditor from 1975 to 1982. She was the author of eight books, including two about women and politics, and a murder mystery set in Portland City Hall. She is honored on Portland's Walk of the Heroines for her pioneering role as a woman in government and politics and her outstanding civic contributions.

xii, 576 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm

Celebrating America's favorite cityscapes, this series combines historic interest and contemporary beauty. Then and Now features fascinating archival photographs contrasted with specially commissioned, full-color images of the same scene today. A visual lesson in the historic changes of our greatest urban landscapes

144 pages : chiefly illustrations (some color) ; 26 x 29 cm

On April 1, 1908, Lola G. Baldwin, aged forty-eight, was sworn in "to perform Police Service" for the city of Portland, Oregon. She was the first woman hired by an American municipality to carry out regular enforcement duties. In telling Lola Baldwin's story, Gloria Myers examines the social and cultural impulses that gave rise to the policewoman idea. The Progressive Era redefined the role of women in society; Baldwin's career benefited from the Progressive belief that women could ameliorate urban evil as they had earlier civilized the household. The need for the urban policewoman arose out of concern for the moral and physical welfare of families, single working women, and children living in the cities. Supported by socially active women's organizations and informed by the ideals of "social hygiene," the first policewoman led a crusade against urban vice, deviance, and corruption in the Rose City. Preventive policing strategies developed by "municipal mothers" like Baldwin aid and influence policing policies to this day

viii, 232 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Gordon B. Dodds, Craig Wollner, and Marshall M. Lee’s The silicon forest: High Tech in the Portland Area 1945-1986 documents the dramatic economic and demographic transformation of the lower Willamette Valley as it evolved from traditional resource extraction into a prominent technology hub. Centering on the rapid suburban expansion across Washington County—particularly within the emerging tech corridors of Beaverton and Hillsboro—the narrative traces how a post-war influx of engineers and their families established new, enduring neighborhoods alongside sprawling corporate campuses. By exploring the closely knit professional networks and foundational companies that spawned generations of spin-off enterprises, the authors illustrate how this modern pioneer workforce collaboratively built a highly interconnected and lasting industrial community in the Pacific Northwest.

xi, 226 pages ; 23 cm

Eugene E. Snyder’s We claimed this land: Portland's pioneer settlers examines the rapid urban and agricultural development at the strategic confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the shadow of the Tualatin Mountains. Set against the dense timberlands and fertile floodplains of the lower Willamette Valley, the narrative details how early land claimants and pioneering families navigated geographic isolation by forming tight-knit merchant and agrarian networks. By chronicling the clearing of the rugged West Hills and the establishment of early riverside commerce, the text reveals how these initially scattered homesteads cooperatively transitioned into a thriving deep-water port through shared labor and enduring family alliances. Ultimately, this historical account demonstrates how collaboratively taming this vital river corridor successfully transformed a remote forested frontier into a cohesive, enduring urban community that anchored the pioneer expansion of the Pacific Northwest.

A collection of biographical sketches profiling the 212 pioneers who settled the land that is now Portland, Oregon

xxv, 289 pages : maps, portraits ; 23 cm

"Vanport City, Oregon, was conceived in 1942 as a temporary housing project for the families of men and women who came to the Pacific Northwest to work in the Kaiser shipyards and further the war effort (World War II). Situated on a flood plain between Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, the Columbia River reclaimed the city for its own in a flood on Memorial Day, 1948. In its brief but vital lifetime, Vanport pushed the Portland area into a new era of change and development, leaving a legacy that is felt even today. During its time, Vanport was the largest housing project in the United States, (perhaps the world) and the second largest city in Oregon"--Cover

xiv, 151 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Island Origins: Trappers, Traders & Settlers by J. D. Cleaver is a 1986 regional history, published by the Oregon Historical Society Press as the inaugural volume of the Sauvie Island Heritage Series. The book meticulously examines the early history and geological formation of this significant river island—located at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers near Portland—during the initial stages of Euro-American contact and settlement from 1792 to 1865. Cleaver chronicles the era of early maritime explorers, the establishment of the region's lucrative fur trade, and the arrival of the first pioneer homesteaders who began transforming the landscape. Ultimately, it serves as a foundational and highly focused resource for understanding the complex ecological and colonial forces that shaped one of Oregon's most historically vital trading and agricultural hubs.

vii, 40 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Terence O'Donnell and Thomas Vaughan’s Portland: An Informal History & Guide chronicles the rapid municipal transformation of "The Clearing" into the Pacific Northwest’s preeminent deep-water river port on the lower Willamette. The narrative documents the systematic superimposition of an orthogonal street grid, timber wharves, and early commercial storefronts directly over the riparian bottomlands and sloughs stewarded by Upper Chinookan communities, including the Multnomah and Clackamas peoples. By cutting plank roads through the rugged Tualatin Mountains and capitalizing on the natural head of deep-draft navigation, early entrepreneurs engineered a vital transshipment hub linking interior agricultural valleys to Pacific maritime routes. Ultimately, the work captures how municipal expansion and commercial capital permanently restructured an ancient Indigenous riverine crossroads into an American mercantile center.

x, 211 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Early Portland stump-town triumphant; rival towns on the Willamette, 1831-1854 examines the fierce urban competition and rapid mercantile expansion situated along the deep-water, heavily timbered corridors of the lower Willamette River. Snyder details how the region's formidable riparian macro-geography—specifically the deep-water navigational limits for ocean-going sailing vessels, the steep, densely forested barricade of the Tualatin Mountains, and the muddy, flood-prone alluvial terraces of the riverbank—strictly dictated the margins of strategic townsite placement, aggressive old-growth timber clearing, and the intense rivalry to control agricultural trade routes. By mapping Portland's ultimate triumph over neighboring settlements like Oregon City and Milwaukie—achieved by strategically leveraging its position as the furthest inland deep-water anchorage and physically carving a precarious plank road through the western hills to siphon the Tualatin Valley's lucrative agrarian wealth—the narrative highlights how this specific riverine and topographical geography anchored a profoundly competitive, mercantile-driven urban hub. Ultimately, this urban and civic record serves as a localized spatial history, demonstrating how the severe riparian constraints, immense botanical density, and critical deep-water access of this Pacific Northwest landscape fundamentally shaped the highly strategic, commercially aggressive character of early Portland's founding.

vii, 182 pages illustrations, maps, portraits 23 cm

Laurence Pratt’s I Remember Portland chronicles the rapid urban and industrial maturation of Oregon's primary metropolis at the dawn of the twentieth century. The narrative maps the strategic riverine geography of the lower Willamette River, positioned just before its confluence with the Columbia, which served as the vital deep-water maritime port anchoring the Willamette Valley's expansive agricultural and timber hinterlands. By detailing the city's physical expansion from the dense, muddy commercial hub clustered beneath the steep, forested slopes of the West Hills, outward across the newly bridged river to the sprawling, flatter residential grids of the Eastside, the book illustrates how early mechanized infrastructure—such as steel bridges and electric streetcars—allowed residents to conquer the formidable aquatic barrier that had historically divided the settlement. Ultimately, the text captures the evolving urban geography of the Pacific Northwest, demonstrating how Portland leveraged its essential riverine highway and adapted to its constraining topography to transition from a rugged pioneer river town into a modernized, interconnected metropolitan hub.

91 pages ; 21 cm

in connection with the antecedent explorations, discoveries, and movements of the pioneers that selected the site for the great city of the Pacific

3 volumes : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 27 cm

Published in 1890 and compiled by Harvey W. Scott, the formidable long-time editor of The Oregonian, History of Portland, Oregon offers a sweeping civic chronicle of the city's rise from a muddy clearing on the Willamette River to the dominant commercial metropolis of the Pacific Northwest. The exhaustive volume details early municipal struggles, infrastructural triumphs, and the fiercely competitive navigation of regional river trade, culminating in extensive biographical sketches of the city's pioneer elites. A keen insight drawn from the text is how Scott leverages his dual authority as a historian and the region's most powerful journalist to actively manufacture, rather than merely record, Portland's civic mythology. By inextricably linking the city's economic progress to the moral and financial virtues of its conservative merchant class, the book functions as a sophisticated ideological tool designed to cement the hegemony of the local business establishment while deliberately marginalizing labor movements and competing frontier narratives.

651 pages, 69 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 26 cm