Portland, Oregon was named as a result of a coin flip. What if the coin had landed on the other side?
When Portland was initially founded, it was referred to as The Clearing. The site was founded by two different pioneers from New England—Asa Lovejoy from Boston, Massachusetts and Francis Pettygrove from Portland, Maine. The two pioneers split ownership of the 640-acre area.
In order to decide who would gain naming rights, Lovejoy and Pettygrove flipped a coin. If Pettygrove hadn't won the best out of three matchup, the city might've been named Boston, Oregon.
Portland was officially incorporated into the state of Oregon in 1849.
The coin that the pair used, a copper one-cent piece coined in 1835, was dubbed the Portland Penny. It's now on display at the Oregon Historical Society Museum.
