Which Came First — Portland, ME or Portland, OR?
I was trying to get to the website of The Portland Press Herald of Maine, but somehow ended up on a magic redirect to a website for Portland, OR. I thought this little bit of trivia was interesting and had to share:
Portland started as a spot known as “The Clearing” which was on the Willamette about half-way between Oregon City and Fort Vancouver. In 1843, William Overton saw great commercial potential for this land; his only problem was that he lacked the quarter needed to file a land claim. So, he struck a bargain with his partner Asa Lovejoy: for 25 cents, Overton would share his claim to the 640 acre site.
Bored with clearing trees and building roads, Overton sold his half of the claim to Francis W. Pettygrove. When it came time to name their new town, Pettygrove and Lovejoy each wanted to name it after his home town. They settled the argument with a coin toss. Pettygrove won, and named it after Portland, Maine; had Lovejoy won, he intended to name it after Boston, Massachusetts.
You learn something new everyday.
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