The West

Stumptown Stories: Lewis & Clark’s 210th Anniversary Extravaganza! (10 November 2015)

November 8, 2015 by Dave Leave a Comment

Lewis & Clark’s 210th Anniversary Extravaganza! – a special installment of the Stumptown Stories series, begins at 7 PM on Tuesday, November 10 at Jack London bar (basement of the Rialto, SW 4th and Alder).

Hey Portland! Get ready for a rip-roaring good time with our favorite adventurers, Lewis and Clark! Joe Streckert will regale us with tales of the Lewis & Clark Centennital Expo, and Finn JD John will delve in deep with the story of how the Expo brought us Portland’s favorite heavy metal laxatives!

Stumptown Stories, batshit crazy stories from the murkiest, weirdest, and nuttiest corners of Portland history, takes place the second Tuesday of every month at the Jack London.

Admission is free. Doors open at 6:30 PM, 21 and over only.

India Festival 2012

August 15, 2012 by Dave Leave a Comment

Pioneer Courthouse Square plays host to the sights and sounds of India and the Subcontinent on Sunday, August 19 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the India Festival 2012.

Please be there with your family and friends to get a taste of Indian culture for FREE and get a glimpse of this growing, warm and welcoming community. We are hosting India Festival on August 19th and will celebrate India’s independence and our cultural heritage with our friends in Oregon. Our festival has grown every year with record crowds and new vendors.

Don’t miss out on a memorable event that draws crowds from all over the West Coast!

There will be music and dance exhibitions, as well as food!

The event is sponsored by the India Cultural Association.

History Pub: Finding David Douglas (21-May-2012)

May 21, 2012 by Dave Leave a Comment

Finding David Douglas, a documentary about the famous botanist, will be shown at the latest History Pub at the Kennedy School (5736 NE 33rd), this Monday, May 21, 2012.

The compelling story of the intrepid 19th century Scots botanist David Douglas is told in this tri-national production. Finding David Douglas transports viewers to England and Scotland; treks through locations in Oregon, Washington, California and British Columbia; sweeps across the high Canadian Rockies to remote York Factory on Hudson Bay; and reaches Douglas’s mysterious final destination on the Big Island of Hawaii. The film focuses on Douglas’s groundbreaking contributions to science – the Douglas fir and many more plant and animal species are named for him. It details his relations within the multi-cultural community of the Hudson’s Bay Company and the many Indian tribes he visited.

After the screening, filmmaker Lois Leonard will host a Q&A.

Join event co-sponsors Oregon Historical Society and Holy Names Heritage Center at 7 p.m. Monday for a beer and history! Admission is free and this event is all ages.

National Park Week (April 21-29, 2012)

April 19, 2012 by Dave Leave a Comment

National Park Week takes place April 21 through April 29, 2012. Admission is free at all 397 national parks during the celebration.

Looking for something fun, free, and fantastic to do with family and friends? Head out to America’s national parks where millions of stars light up the dark night sky, deer and antelope (and a few other critters!) play on the wide open range, and history is an unbelievable experience, not an exam.

The national park closest to Portland is Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, but the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park on the North Coast isn’t too far!

Visit NationalParkWeek.org and the National Park Service website for more details.

December 11, 1950: Sale of The Oregonian to S.I. Newhouse Reported

December 11, 2011 by Dave Leave a Comment

The first issue of The Oregonian, the oldest newspaper in continuous production west of Salt Lake City, was published on December 4, 1850. Almost exactly one hundred years later, on December 11, 1950, the paper reported its sale to Samuel I. Newhouse (The Oregonian, 11 December 1950).

The Oregonian had been founded by Thomas J. Dryer, and was sold to Henry L. Pittock ten years later. Pittock sold controlling interest of the paper to several prominent Portland businessmen, including H. W. Corbett and W. Lair Hill, in 1872. Five years later former, and future, editor Harvey W. Scott bought Corbett’s stock and Scott and Pittock together bought all the remaining stock. Until the 1950 sale ownership remained almost exclusively with the Scott and Pittock estates (Ibid.).

The sale price was over $5,000,000. The Newhouse family-owned Advance Publications still owns The Oregonian today.