Historic Photos of Oregon

Known for its natural beauty, Oregon has a unique and remarkable history. During the sixteenth century, European explorers sighted the Oregon coast and wrote about it. The region would be opened to settlement through the Hudson’s Bay Company and later as a result of the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1805. By 1859, the Oregon Territory was set to join the Union as the 33rd state.

Over the next two centuries, the opening of navigable rivers and bays to steamships, the arrival of the railroads,...