Oregon City

Whether the route taken was by water or by land, the final destination for most overlanders was Oregon City on the Willamette River. They didn't all come to Oregon City to settle within city limits, rather, Oregon City became more of a symbolic site. Men left their families at Oregon City while they searched for a place to call home. Oregon City had the only judicial court and land office in the western United States. The emigrants arrived by the dozens. Some arrived needing food, shelter, and clothing; while others made it across in grand style with two or three wagons and plenty of livestock. By 1845, Oregon City had grown into a town of nearly one thousand people. The town had a Methodist Church, a Catholic chapel, two grist mills with a sawmill at each, four stores, two taverns, a hatter, a tanner, a physician, three lawyers, a printing office and newspaper, a lathe machine and a good brickyard. There were plenty of carpenters and masons employed.

Oregon City is also the town in which two men, Amos Lovejoy and Francis Pettygrove flipped a coin to decide what the new city north of them would be called. This city was where the Willamette flowed into the Columbia river. Each man wanted to name the city after his hometown back East. Amos wanted the town to be called Boston (Massachusetts) while Francis wanted it to be called Portland (Maine). Pettygrove was the winner of the coin toss, hence, the city of Portland was established, becoming a suburb of Oregon City.

One mystery still remains and that is the origin of the name "Oregon" which is what Oregon City is named after. The British, French, and Spanish all had interests in this northwest country and the name Oregon was possibly derived from a mixture or blend from all three of these nations' languages. The earliest written account of the name Oregon comes from the English Army officer Major Roberts in 1765. He assumes the Columbia River to be the Ouragon or Ourigan River. So whether the name is derived from the Spanish words oregano, oreja, and orejon or from the French word Aragon the fact remains that we now refer to it as Oregon.

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Last modified on: January 31, 2004