BUT for the flip of a coin, Portland, Oregon, would be Boston, Oregon. Asa Lovejoy of Massachusetts and Francis Pettygrove of Maine, owners of land along the Willamette River, each wanted the name of their new town to honor the leading city of their home states, so they tossed a coin. A man told me: “Two Portlands cause confusion, yes, but nobody here complains. We could have ended up living in Lovejoy, Oregon.”
