The flip of a coin, subsequently named…
February 1851 CE
The two founders of Portland, Francis Pettygrove from Portland, Maine and Asa Lovejoy from Boston, Massachusetts, had both wanted to name the fledgling site—then known as The Clearing—after their respective home towns.
The coin toss was decided in 1845 with two out of three tosses which Pettygrove won.
The toss occurred in the parlor of the Ermatinger House, in Oregon City.
This house, the oldest in Clackamas County, is now a museum.
At the time of its incorporation on February 8, 1851, Portland has over eight hundred inhabitants, a steam sawmill, a log cabin hotel, and a newspaper, the Weekly Oregonian.
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