Sometime in 2010 I realized that with my Multnomah County library card I had access to The Oregonian Historical Archive, among other research databases and sites. That realization gave me the bright idea to write a “Day in History” post for every day in 2011. I started innocently enough on January 1st. Ends up writing the pieces was the easy part – for most posts I didn’t delve into the topic too deeply. But the project ended up to be much more of a time sink than I had anticipated. Some days it was easy to find a historical event to write about, other days it took me literally hours to find something. But thanks to my obsessive compulsive tendencies I completed the task, with my final post on December 31, 2011.
Below is a list of the January historical events I found, assembled here in one place for your edification and amusement.
January 1, 1916: Oregon Goes Dry
January 2, 1895: Bull Run Water Comes to Portland
January 3, 1916: Robbery in Seattle Followed by Flight to Portland
January 4, 1905: Bend Becomes a City
January 5, 1846: No More Sharing Oregon With Britain
January 6, 1994: Tonya Harding’s Gang of Bumbling Criminals Attacks!
January 7, 1806: Sacagawea Scouts Locations for The Goonies
January 8, 1961: Memorial Coliseum Dedicated
January 9, 1950: Three Snow Storms
January 10, 1969: The Old Spaghetti Factory Opens
January 11, 1854: Behemoth Wasco County Created
January 12, 1920: Oregon Ratifies the 19th Amendment
January 13, 1855: Corvallis Controversially Christened Capital
January 14, 1969: TriMet is Born
January 15, 1888: Portland’s Deep Freeze
January 16, 1905: Second Morrison Bridge Opens to the Public
January 17, 1914: Ride the Red Electrics
January 18, 1854: She Flies With Her Own Wings
January 19, 1909: Oregon Republicans Elect Democrat to Senate
January 20, 1983: Poison Idea Records Debut Album
January 21, 2011: Portlandia Premieres
January 22, 1974: Nike Bags the Swoosh
January 23, 1975: Portland Awarded an NASL Franchise
January 24, 1917: Trolley Crosses Columbia on Rails for First Time
January 25, 2006: SP&S 700 Declared a Historic Place
January 26, 1700: The Great Cascadia Earthquake
January 27, 2007: Portland Aerial Tram Opens to the Public
January 28, 1944: Portland’s Final Liberty Ship Launches
January 29, 1904: H.D. Egbert Hanged For Double Murder
January 30, 1855: By Act of Congress, George Washington Bush Keeps his Land
January 31, 1960: Ten Oregonian and Oregon Journal News Trucks Dynamited
You’re not stopping for 2012 are you? I loved this!! Even if you end up repeating what happened on that day… I wouldn’t care. Please don’t stop! ;o)