Portland settlement story

William Overton and Asa Lovejoy were the first to buy land in what would be the city of Portland. 

 

William Overton sold his share of the land to Francis Pettygrove. Lovejoy and Pettygrove both wanted to name the city after the city they lived. Lovejoy wanted to name it Boston and Pettygrove wanted to name it Portland. Both men settled on Portland after Pettygrove won a coin toss. 

 Portland, Oregon in 1853.(image from Wikipedia)

In 1850 around 800 citizens live in Portland. In 1851 Congress passed the Oregon Land Act, every man or women was entitled to 320 acres of land. 

Ben Holliday in 1869 started to built the railroad system in Oregon. Farmers wanted faster access to ship out their products to Eastern states. 

Map of the railroad system in Oregon. Holladay ran out of money before he could finish the railroad. Henry Villard would take over the project and finish it in 1887. This allowed for more migration to the west from the east. According the the website PdxHistory, "The town of East Portland was a growing corcern by 1898. By the end of the 19th century, Portland had 90,00 residents and it was the largest metropolis in the Northwest."