Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon Genealogy

United States Oregon  Multnomah County  Portland

''This article is about a city in Oregon. For other uses, see Portland (disambiguation).''

City Hall
http://www.portlandonline.com/ City Hall 1221 SW 4th Ave Portland, Oregon

Greater Portland
The Portland-Vancouver, Oregon-Washington, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), also known as the Portland metropolitan area or Greater Portland, is an urban area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered around the city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Census Bureau's definition for the MSA is currently all of the following counties: Clackamas County, Oregon, Multnomah County, Oregon, Washington County, Oregon, Yamhill County, Oregon, Clark County, Washington, and Skamania County, Washington. The Washington counties are separated from Oregon by the Columbia River.

The Oregon portion of the metropolitan area is the state's largest urban center. Portions of this are under the jurisdiction of Metro, a directly-elected regional government which, among other things, is responsible for land use planning in the region.

Before the recent redefinition of metropolitan boundaries, the Portland Consolidated Metropolitan Area included the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Major cities in the region in addition to Portland include Beaverton, Gresham, Hillsboro in Oregon, and Vancouver in Washington. The area also includes the smaller cities of Damascus, Gladstone, King City, Lake Oswego, Milwaukie, Oregon City, Sherwood, Tigard, Troutdale, Tualatin, West Linn, Wilsonville in Oregon, as well as Battle Ground, Camas, and Washougal in Washington.

It includes the unincorporated suburban communities in Oregon of Aloha, Beavercreek, Clackamas, Dunthorpe, Garden Home, Raleigh Hills, and West Slope.

1843: Francis W. Pettygrove, formerly of Portland, Maine won the coin toss with Asa Lovejoy, former of Boston, Massachusetts for the right to name the place as Portland instead of Boston.

1851: Incorporated as a city.

1891: Albina and East Portland were consolidated with City of Portland, the duplicate streets were renamed.

2 September 1931: The "great renumbering plan", changed the "20" per block to "100 per block and standardized street name patterns.

Nickname of the City: "The City of Roses". Other known nickames includes Stumptown (reference to mid 19th century, when the city's growth forced land to be cleared quickly to accommodate the growth, but the tree stumps were not immediately removed., Bridgetown (a reference to many bridges crossing Willamette River uniting west and east Portland), Rip City.

Sections of the city are divided into five sections, North, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest and Northwest. This is reflected in the postal street addresses with N, NE, SE, SW and NW included.

Populated Places:
Neighboring Cities: Beaverton, Gresham, Troutdale, Milwaukie, Lake Oswego, Vancouver,

Neighboring Counties: Clackamas, Columbia, Hood River and Washington in Oregon, Clark and Skamania in Washington

City Directories

 * 1863 - The Portland Directory, for the year 1863. Portland, Oregon: S. J. McCormick, 1863. Digital version at Internet Archive - free.


 * 1888-1889 - Northern Pacific Coast Directory: Including the Following Towns: San Francisco, Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley, Albany, Albina, Astoria, Ashland, Central Point, Corvallis, East Portland, Eugene City, Hillsboro, Independence, Jacksonville, Lebanon, Medford, McMinnville, Newport, Old Tacoma, Portland, Salem, Seattle, Vancouver, and Yaquina. San Francisco, Cal.: Niles-Rentschler Directory Co., 1888. Digital version at Internet Archive - free.


 * 1900-1901 - Portland City Directory, 1900-1901. Portland, Oregon: R. L. Polk & Co., 1900. Digital version at Internet Archive - free.


 * 1920 - Polk's Portland City Directory, 1920. Portland, Oregon: R. L. Polk & Co., 1920. Digital version at Internet Archive: Volume 1, Volume 2 - free.


 * 1956 - Polk's Portland (Multnomah County, Ore.) City Directory, 1956. Seattle, Wash.: R. L. Polk & Co., 1956. Digital version at Internet Archive - free.


 * 1957 - Polk's Portland (Multnomah County, Ore.) City Directory, 1957. Seattle, Wash.: R. L. Polk & Co., 1957. Digital version at Internet Archive - free.


 * 1959 - Polk's Portland (Multnomah County, Ore.) City Directory, 1959. Los Angeles, Calif.: R. L. Polk & Co., 1959. Digital version at Internet Archive - free.


 * 1962 - Polk's Portland (Multnomah County, Ore.) City Directory, 1962. Monterey Park, Calif.: R. L. Polk & Co., 1962. Digital version at Internet Archive - free.

Obituaries
The Oregonian

Websites
Portland Genealogy (Oregon Genealogy)