Portland, The Rose City

Portland, City of Roses
Portland, the most populous city in the state of Oregon, is celebrating its 150^th birthday this year. With a population of 851, the city of Portland incorporated on February 8, 1851. If the coin toss had gone the other way, it would be the city of Boston, Oregon named for Francis Pettygrove's birthplace instead of Portland. Asa Lovejoy and William Overton, were the first landowners and after Pettygrove bought Overton's share, he and Lovejoy decided to flip for the privilege of naming their new town. Lovejoy's hometown of Portland, Maine reigned and Portland, Oregon continues to rain today.

The population of the Portland metropolitan area for 2000 was 1,886,150. Six counties covering more than 5,100 square miles make up the metropolitan area: Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, Yamhill and Columbia Counties in Oregon and Clark County in Washington.

If you've ever played the game Sim City, you should take a look at Portland's historical timeline. You will see that they carefully laid out their infrastructure as the city was built along the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. Unfortunately, like in Sim City as in real life, problems are bound to arise. No city is perfect, but Portland does a fine job of making it look that way. They manage a good economy, providing community services, beautiful parks, a transit and light rail system that shines in the Pacific Northwest, and still maintain a thriving livability.

The rivers are both a boon and a bane. They provide a ready access to the Pacific Ocean for transport of goods to and from Asia and the rest of the world. Because of these natural barriers, area traffic snarls on a daily basis. For the most part, Portland has put them to good use. In the last two decades, river and river area beautification projects have transformed some very ugly spots into places of beauty. The downtown core has a pedestrian only zone that is not only attractive, but also brings people together in the outdoors. The Tom McCall Waterfront Park is also a recent area of transformation, providing a beautiful spot for many Portland area celebrations like Cinco de Mayo Fiesta, The Waterfront Blues Festival, The Rose City Relay, and The Brewfest to name a few. The new home of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is also located on the waterfront in addition to the ever popular The copyright of the article Portland, The Rose City in Oregon is owned by Sue Barton. Permission to republish Portland, The Rose City in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.