East Portland, Oregon
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East Portland was a city in the U.S. state of
Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
that was consolidated into Portland in 1891. In modern usage, the term generally refers to the portion of present-day Portland that lies east of
82nd Avenue 82nd Avenue of the Roses (simply 82nd Avenue prior to 2005) is a street in Portland, Oregon, and comprises the northern end of Oregon Route 213, also known as the Cascade Highway. It is one of the longest streets in Portland, running down the en ...
, most of which the City of Portland annexed in the 1980s and 1990s.


The city of the late 19th century

The city of East Portland was founded on a land claim by James B. Stephens in 1846, who bought the claim from
John McLoughlin John McLoughlin, baptized Jean-Baptiste McLoughlin, (October 19, 1784 – September 3, 1857) was a French-Canadian, later American, Chief Factor and Superintendent of the Columbia District of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver fr ...
of the
Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...
. The city was incorporated in 1871. East Portland, 1874
- Oregon History Project
Stephens platted the land from the
Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...
to East First Street, and from today's Glisan Street to present Hawthorne Boulevard.Corning, Howard M. (1989) ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing. Much of the land east of the river was marshy and crossed by creeks and sloughs, so it was less desirable than Portland river front property on the west side of the Willamette River. Development was difficult and expensive since many streets had to be built on trestles. A few years after Stephens acquired his land, Gideon Tibbetts filed a
Donation Land Claim The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, sometimes known as the Donation Land Act, was a statute enacted by the United States Congress in late 1850, intended to promote homestead settlements in the Oregon Territory. It followed the Distribution-Pr ...
for south of what is now Division Street in southeast Portland. Tibbetts founded the first
flour mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...
on the east side of the Willamette, planted extensive orchards, and raised hay on part of his claim. He
plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bea ...
ted some of this land in the
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
neighborhood, and platted an addition to East Portland. Tibbetts later sold some parcels and his flour mill to Stephens. The value of East Portland waterfront property skyrocketed in 1869, when the East-Side Oregon Central Railroad connecting East Portland and Salem was completed. Railroad magnate
Ben Holladay Benjamin Holladay (October 14, 1819 – July 8, 1887) was an American transportation businessman responsible for creating the Overland Stage to California during the height of the 1849 California Gold Rush. Ben Holladay created a stagecoach ...
established ferry service across the Willamette to Portland from the northern terminus of the railroad about that time; the boat was superseded in 1880 by the Oregon & California Railroad Ferry No. 2, put into service by
Henry Villard Henry Villard (April 10, 1835 – November 12, 1900) was an American journalist and financier who was an early president of the Northern Pacific Railway. Born and raised by Ferdinand Heinrich Gustav Hilgard in the Rhenish Palatinate of the Kin ...
, and later by the
Steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistan ...
and Morrison bridges. On July 6, 1891, the cities of East Portland, Albina and Portland merged as the city of Portland, Oregon. At the time, the population of East Portland was estimated to be 11,457. In about the same year,
Ladd's Addition Ladd's Addition is an inner southeast historic district of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is Portland's oldest planned residential development, and one of the oldest in the western United States. The district is known in Portland for a diag ...
, which lay between the Stephens and Tibbetts land claims, was converted from farm land to a residential neighborhood.


The modern district in the eastern part of Portland

The term East Portland is now widely used to refer to the portion of the city east of 82nd Avenue, where approximately 28% of Portland's population resides. Much of Portland's black and minority population have moved east of 82nd Avenue, as of 2011, in a trend that was expected to continue. In March 2015, a group called East Portland de-Annexation Secession filed a measure with the City of Portland, and are petitioning to secede from Portland. However, Deborah Scroggin, Portland's election officer, rejected the petition because it did not meet requirements of Section 1 (2) (d) and (5) Article IV of the
Oregon Constitution The Oregon Constitution is the governing document of the U.S. state of Oregon, originally enacted in 1857. As amended the current state constitution contains eighteen sections, beginning with a bill of rights.
. Collene Swenson, a resident of East Portland, said that she will draft the new initiative, with the help of lawyers.


See also

*
East Portland Grand Avenue Historic District The East Portland Grand Avenue Historic District, located in southeast Portland, Oregon, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The district includes approximately 20 city blocks on or near Southeast Grand Avenue on the east sid ...
* History of Portland, Oregon *
History of Oregon The history of Oregon, a U.S. state, may be considered in five eras: geologic history, inhabitation by native peoples, early exploration by Europeans (primarily fur traders), settlement by pioneers, and modern development. The term "Oregon" ...


References


External links


Sullivan's Gulch history
{{coord, 45.51556, -122.65917, type:city(0)_region:US-OR, display=title Former cities in Oregon Geography of Portland, Oregon 1891 disestablishments in Oregon Populated places established in 1846 1846 establishments in Oregon Country Separatism in the United States