Orlando Pleasant Shields Plummer (April 13, 1836 – December 7, 1913) was an American physician and politician in the state of

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

. A native of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, he started practicing medicine in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

before moving to

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

. In Oregon, he continued his medical work as well as working for several telegraph companies. A Republican, Plummer was also a member of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, a medical professor, fruit farmer, and Portland city council member. His drug store in downtown had the first telephone in Portland.

Early life

Orlando Pleasant Shields Plummer (often O.P.S. Plummer) was born in Greenville, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, on April 13, 1836, to Elizabeth (née Craig) and John Boyd Plummer.Corning, Howard M. (1989) ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing. p. 199.''Portrait and Biographical Record of Portland and Vicinity, Oregon. Containing Original Sketches of Many Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present''. Chicago: Chapman Pub. Co., (1903). p. 786-8. His grandfather on his mother’s side was a veteran of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

.''Lineage book''.
Daughters of the American Revolution, (1890). p. 266. Plummer received his early education at the local public schools and at the Greenville Academy. He then was employed as an assistant at the local

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

office, which led to additional jobs working for the telegraph company in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. Plummer continued in this line of work at an office in Rock Island, Illinois, where his brother S. C. Plummer was a doctor. Orlando read medicine from his brother before he returned to his native Pennsylvania to enter medical school. He attended school at

Jefferson Medical College Thomas Jefferson University is a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Established in its earliest form in 1824, the university officially combined with Philadelphia University in 2017. To signify its heritage, the unive ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

where he graduated in 1857 with a

Doctor of Medicine Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

. Plummer returned to

and practiced medicine in the communities of Aledo and Moline from 1858 to 1863. In 1859, he married Sarah B. Cool with whom he had three daughters, with the marriage ending in divorce. One

daughter A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show relations between group ...

married Claude Gatch, one-time mayor of Salem, Oregon. In 1863, Plummer took the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kans ...

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to continue working for the telegraph company, traveling by mule team. He spent the winter of 1863 to 1864 working in a telegraph office there before receiving a promotion.

Oregon

Plummer was promoted to manager of the

, office of the

California State Telegraph Company The California State Telegraph Company was a business originally organized to provide telegraph service between San Francisco and Marysville, California, Marysville, California. By the spring of 1861, the company had expanded its service area south ...

. He arrived on April 9, 1864, and became the first interstate telegraph operator in the city. In the fall of 1866 he resigned from the company and moved south to Albany to resume practicing medicine. After two years Plummer returned to working in the telegraph industry, now for

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company cha ...

, who had purchased Plummer’s former employer. He was hired as the superintendent for their Oregon district, and served in that position from 1868 to 1875. During his time as superintendent, he began teaching at the

Willamette University College of Medicine Willamette University College of Medicine is a former school of medicine that was part of Willamette University. Founded in 1867 as the first medical school in Oregon, the school relocated between Portland and the main university campus in Salem ...

in Salem. Plummer taught hygiene and medical electricity for three years at the school. In 1874, he married Martha Elizabeth Kelly, daughter of Rev. Albert Kelly Rev. Albert Kelly and niece of Clinton Kelly and aunt of Penumbra Kelly.Wexler, Geoff
Guide to the Kelly Family Papers.

Northwest Digital Archives Archives West is an online catalog of descriptive information about the archival collections at various institutions in the western United States (Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Alaska, Utah and Washington). It was established in 2005, and is a program of ...

, 2006. Retrieved on February 28, 2009. Martha was fourteen years younger than Orlando, and they had five children; Grace, Agnes, Ross, Hildegarde, and Marion. Land that constitutes Albert Kelly Park in Portland was gifted by Hildegarde in 1956. In 1877, Plummer returned to Portland to practice medicine and opened a drug store at First and Salmon streets in what is today

Downtown Portland Downtown Portland is the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found ...

Willamette University Willamette University is a private liberal arts college with locations in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United States. Originally named the Oregon Institute, the school was an unaffiliated ...

’s medical program moved to Portland in 1879 and Plummer returned to teaching at the school . He was the first dean of the school, and also taught materia medica and therapeutics.Scott, Harvey W. 1890
''History of Portland, Oregon with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Prominent Citizens and Pioneers''.
Syracuse, N.Y.: D. Mason & Co. pp. 199, 357, 400. Plummer left the school after three years to concentrate on his drug store. He bought a new home in 1881, and remodeled the building. In 1891, he relocated the store to Third and Madison, and his store became the home of the first telephone in the city. Plummer was a member of the United States Examining Surgeons, serving as the secretary of the board on several occasions. He also helped found the State Medical Society of Oregon and was later appointed by Governor Sylvester Pennoyer to the newly created State Board of Medical Examiners. Plummer spent some time as a professor at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

’s medical school, located in Portland. That school and the Willamette medical college were merged in 1913 and later became

Oregon Health & Science University Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) is a public research university focusing primarily on health sciences with a main campus, including two hospitals, in Portland, Oregon. The institution was founded in 1887 as the University of Oregon Med ...

Political career

In 1865, Plummer entered politics and was elected as a city council member for Portland. He served one term on the council, from 1865 to 1866. In 1880, he was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives from

Multnomah County Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland–Vancouver– Hillsboro, OR–WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Th ...

(where Portland is located) as a Republican in District 41. He won re-election to a second two-year term in 1882, but represented District 39 during that session.Oregon Legislators and Staff Guide: 1882 Regular Session (12th).
Oregon State Archives. Retrieved on March 1, 2009. He only served during the 1880 and 1882 legislative sessions. Plummer also served as chairman of the Republicans' city and county conventions for one year.

Later years and legacy

Plummer was a horticulturalist and owned a fruit farm that was then southwest of Portland. There he introduced the Italian prune to the state. In 1865, he helped found the First Presbyterian Church and Society of the City of Portland. Plummer was an elder at the church for decades, and also helped organize another Presbyterian Church in South Portland. He was a member of the Masons and of the Al Kader Temple. Orlando Plummer died on December 7, 1913, in Portland at the age of 77.

References

External links

''Pen Pictures of Representative Men of Oregon''''Portland, Oregon, Its History and Builders''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plummer, Orlando 1836 births 1913 deaths People from Greenville, Pennsylvania Politicians from Rock Island, Illinois People from Albany, Oregon Republican Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives Thomas Jefferson University alumni Portland City Council members (Oregon) Willamette University faculty Oregon Health & Science University faculty 19th-century American politicians