Q 01/05

Asa Lovejoy lost the 1845 coin toss that named Portland, Oregon. What did he want to call it?

A) Salem

B) Boston

C) Albany

D) Cambridge

Answer · why

B) Boston

Pettygrove, from Portland, Maine, won two out of three tosses, and the copper cent they used is on display at the Oregon Historical Society Museum.

Q 02/05

Portland got its name in an 1845 coin toss; which city's name would it carry if Asa Lovejoy had won?

A) Boston

B) Philadelphia

C) Baltimore

D) Providence

Answer · why

A) Boston

Boston lost the best-of-three toss: Francis Pettygrove won and named the town after Portland, Maine, and the copper cent the two founders flipped is o...

Q 03/05

Portland sits at the confluence of the Columbia River and which other river?

A) Snake

B) Willamette

C) Deschutes

D) John Day

Answer · why

B) Willamette

The Willamette cuts the city in two on its way north to the Columbia, which is why Portland needed so many bridges that it is nicknamed Bridgetown.

Q 04/05

Portland's nickname 'Stumptown' came from what?

A) Stump speeches by its founders

B) A sawmill owner named Stump

C) Tree stumps left in its streets

D) A coffee roaster's brand

Answer · why

C) Tree stumps left in its streets

Tree stumps left in its streets gave the name: the 1840s town grew so fast that firs were felled quicker than anyone could clear the stumps away.

Q 05/05

Portland planted roses along its streets for a 1905 exposition honoring whose journey west?

A) Zebulon Pike

B) George Vancouver

C) John C. Frémont

D) Lewis and Clark

Answer · why

D) Lewis and Clark

Lewis and Clark's centennial was the reason for the planting: the roses were meant to charm the fair's visitors, and the 'City of Roses' name took hol...