The historical society in Portland runs the state’s history museum. Of the three levels, only the top floor is a permanent exhibition on the state’s natural and human history, everything else changes seasonally to keep exhibits fresh. There’s only street parking, so turn up early to grab a good spot.
Russians and the British visited the Pacific coast beginning in the 1740s and cataloged local plants and animals with the help of indigenous people. The indigenous people also expertly used canoes to navigate the waterways to show the Europeans around. Droves of Europeans arrived via the Oregon Trail in the mid-nineteenth century. The indigenous people traded with the immigrants but also resisted their invasion.
When the beaver trade slowly declined, the Hudson’s Bay Company run by the British gradually lost influence. The people in Oregon demanded statehood and turned to agriculture, logging, and fishing for income. By the beginning of the 1900s, the natural beauty of Oregon led the government to promote tourism with new roads and hotels. But the good times didn’t last long, Oregon voted in favor of prohibition in 1914, the Great Depression let to lost jobs and forest fires burned every six years until the 1950s.
The special exhibitions downstairs include a gallery on the history of winter sports in the area, the state’s park service, and a look back on the Special Olympics it hosted 50 years ago. I think this is one of the better state historical museums I’ve been to in America.
