Portland

Sister cities

• Ashkelon
• Suzhou
• Ulsan
• Sapporo
• Guadalajara
• Bratislava
• Khabarovsk

History

During the prehistoric period, the land that would become Portland was flooded after the collapse of glacial dams from Lake Missoula, in what would later become Montana. These massive floods occurred during the last ice age and filled the Willamette Valley with of water. Before American settlers began arriving in the 1800s, the land was inhabited for many centuries by two bands of indigenous Chinook peoplethe Multnomah and the Clackamas. The Chinook people occupying the land were first documented in 1805 by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Large numbers of pioneer settlers began arriving in the Willamette Valley in the 1840s via the Oregon Trail with many arriving in nearby Oregon City. A new settlement then emerged ten miles from the mouth of the Willamette River, roughly halfway between Oregon City and Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Vancouver. This community was initially referred to as "Stumptown" and "The Clearing" because of the many trees cut down to allow for its growth. In 1843, William Overton saw potential in the new settlement but lacked the funds to file an official land claim. For 25 cents, Overton agreed to share half of the site with Asa Lovejoy of Boston. In 1844, Overton sold his remaining half of the claim to Francis W. Pettygrove of Portland, Maine. Both Pettygrove and Lovejoy wished to rename "The Clearing" after their respective hometowns. This controversy was settled with a coin toss that Pettygrove won in a series of two out of three tosses, thereby providing Portland with its namesake. The coin used for this decision, now known as the Portland Penny, is on display in the headquarters of the Oregon Historical Society. At the time of its incorporation on February 8, 1851, Portland had over 800 inhabitants, a steam sawmill, a log cabin hotel,…

Geography

Portland lies on top of a dormant volcanic field known as the Boring Lava Field, named after the nearby bedroom community of Boring. The Boring Lava Field has at least 32 cinder cones such as Mount Tabor, and its center lies in southeast Portland. Mount St. Helens, a highly active volcano northeast of the city in Washington state, is easily visible on clear days and is close enough to have dusted the city with volcanic ash after its eruption on May 18, 1980. The rocks of the Portland area range in age from late Eocene to more recent eras. Multiple shallow, active faults traverse the Portland metropolitan area. Among them are the Portland Hills Fault on the city's west side, and the East Bank Fault on the east side. According to a 2017 survey, several of these faults were characterized as "probably more of a hazard" than the Cascadia subduction zone due to their proximities to population centers, with the potential of producing magnitude 7 earthquakes. Per a 2014 report, over 7,000 locations within the Portland area are at high risk for landslides and soil liquefaction in the event of a major earthquake, including much of the city's west side (such as Washington Park) and sections of Clackamas County. Portland is east of the Pacific Ocean at the northern end of Oregon's most populated region, the Willamette Valley. Downtown Portland straddles the banks of the Willamette River, which flows north through the city center and separates the city's east and west neighborhoods. Less than from downtown, the Willamette River flows into the Columbia River, the fourth-largest river in the United States, which divides Oregon from Washington state. Portland is approximately upriver from the Pacific Ocean on the Columbia. Though much of downtown Portland is relatively flat,…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  116,810
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  109,549
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  87,307
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  86,131
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  78,777
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  77,986
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  74,576
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  71,860

Largest nearby schools

• David Douglas High School
  High · Portland · 2,698 students · 18.7:1 ratio
• Grant High School
  High · Portland · 2,156 students · 21.3:1 ratio
• Franklin High School
  High · Portland · 1,966 students · 18.7:1 ratio
• Centennial High School
  High · Gresham · 1,756 students · 24.1:1 ratio
• Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School
  High · Portland · 1,556 students · 20.5:1 ratio
• Cleveland High School
  High · Portland · 1,547 students · 19.8:1 ratio
• Lincoln High School
  High · Portland · 1,525 students · 20.3:1 ratio
• Roosevelt High School
  High · Portland · 1,484 students · 16.7:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.18 — 2025-11-23
  5 km SE of Amity, Oregon
• M 2.66 — 2024-08-30
  14 km ESE of Molalla, Oregon
• M 3.48 — 2024-07-12
  20 km S of Morton, Washington
• M 2.5100000000000002 — 2024-03-26
  27 km S of Morton, Washington
• M 2.99 — 2024-01-05
  33 km NNE of Amboy, Washington
• M 3.09 — 2023-11-24
  4 km WSW of Deer Island, Oregon