Culture

Oregon’s oldest incorporated city turns 180 years old

By Kami Horton (OPB)
Dec. 24, 2024 2 p.m.

In 1844, Oregon City became the first official city established west of the Rocky Mountains

Christmas Eve marks the 180th anniversary of the incorporation of Oregon City, making it the first city to be formally recognized in the Pacific Northwest.

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This photograph of Willamette Falls dates to 1878.

This photograph of Willamette Falls dates to 1878.

Courtesy Oregon Historical Society, #612

Situated at the base of Willamette Falls, it had long been an important fishing and gathering spot for several local Indigenous tribes.

By 1829, Dr. John McLoughlin of the Hudson’s Bay Company laid out a two-square-mile claim near the falls and encouraged white traders, missionaries and emigrants to settle there.

According to historian Hubert Howe Bancroft, writing in 1886, the name “Oregon City” came from McLoughlin, while others favored “Willamette Falls.”

On Dec. 24, 1844, the Oregon Provisional Legislature incorporated the city and proclaimed it its capital.

This lithograph of Oregon City dates to 1845.

This lithograph of Oregon City dates to 1845.

Courtesy Oregon Historical Society, ba014134

That act made it the first incorporated city west of the Rocky Mountains.

While other Euro-American settlements predated it — Astoria’s founding goes back to 1811 — Oregon City was the first to gain formal recognition.

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By 1846, the new city had grown to 500 residents, with two churches, two saloons and a newspaper “Oregon Spectator.”

Beginning in the mid 1840s, thousands of westward settlers arrived in the city, making it the symbolic end of the Oregon Trail.

This photograph shows Geo. Abernethy  Wholesale Store, Oregon City's first brick building, circa 1850s.

This photograph shows Geo. Abernethy Wholesale Store, Oregon City's first brick building, circa 1850s.

Courtesy Oregon Historical Society, OrgLot 1414

However, the arrival of settlers decimated the Indigenous population of the area. The early Euro-American migrants brought smallpox, cholera and other diseases that killed thousands of Native Americans in the region. As settlers moved in, the remaining inhabitants were forced out of the region.

In 1855, local tribes ceded Willamette Falls to the United States under the Willamette Valley Treaty and Native people were forcibly removed to the Grand Ronde Reservation.

In 2019, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde purchased a 23-acre property at Willamette Falls that was formerly home to a Blue Heron Paper Company mill.

The site holds significant historical and cultural importance for the Grand Ronde Tribes.

They have named it “tumwata” — the Grand Ronde’s name for Willamette Falls — and are now working on a long-term project to restore and revitalize the area.

This photograph taken by Carleton Watkins shows Oregon City in 1867.

This photograph taken by Carleton Watkins shows Oregon City in 1867.

Courtesy Oregon Historical Society, OrgLot 93

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