Greetings From Boston, Oregon

We asked fairgoers: What was Portland almost named?

Hot Mic 15
By Zave Payne and Aaron Mesh

Three months of our roving civics exam has established that many Portlanders aren’t keeping up with current events. (Like who the governor is.) Do they fare any better on a history test?

This week, our question comes from a foundational story of Portland—how the city got its name. Over dinner in 1845, Asa Lovejoy and Francis Pettygrove flipped a coin to determine which of their New England hometowns would lend a new Oregon town its name. Pettygrove hailed from Portland, Maine. He won, obviously, as two out of three penny flips landed his way. But where was Lovejoy from?

We asked people attending the Mississippi Street Fair. They did better than we expected—although, in fairness, New England only has so many notable cities. We still miss you, Hartford Whalers!

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