Portland History

Historical Timeline of Oregon

• 1543
  Spanish explorer Bartolome Ferrello travels along the Oregon and Washington coastlines
• 1775
  Bruno Heceta discovers the Columbia River
• 1778
  Englishman Captain James Cook explores the coastal areas
• 1778
  U.S. Captain Robert Gray is the first man to traverse and survey the Columbia River
• 1805
  Lewis and Clark expedition arrives at the Pacific Coast after a journey down the Snake and Columbia Rivers
• 1811
  John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company establishes Fort Astoria, the first permanent white settlement in the state
• 1834
  The Hudson Bay Company takes control of Fort Astoria
• 1846
  Thousands of settlers begin to arrive from the east, along the rigorous Oregon Trail
• 1848
  Oregon Territory is established
• 1859
  Oregon becomes the 33rd state
• 1877
  Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce people are forced out of their traditional Oregon home
• 1883
  The Transcontinental Railroad helps connect Portland to the east
• 1911
  Oregon becomes the first U.S. state to hold primary elections
• 1937
  The Bonneville Dam hydroelectric project on the Columbia River is completed
• 1942
  A solitary Japanese submarine shells Fort Stevens during World War II
• 1961
  Oregon elects Maurine Neuberger as its first woman senator
• 1966
  Oregon and Washington are linked by the completion of the Astoria Bridge
• 1991
  Barbara Roberts becomes Oregon's first woman governor