Lake Oswego Oregon

The majority of the city of Lake Oswego may be found in Clackamas County, although tiny sections also stretch into the adjacent counties of Multnomah and Washington. Lake Oswego is located in the state of Oregon, in the United States. The town of Oswego was established in 1847 and became an official municipality in 1910. It is situated around 8 miles south of Portland and has a lake that spans 405 acres. Nowadays, the city is considered to be a suburb of Portland; yet, in the late 19th century, it served as the center of Oregon’s fleeting iron industry. There was a 3.8% growth from the population in the year 2000, which was 35,278 to the population in 2010. In 2010, the population was 36,619.

The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 and the Homestead Act that followed both encouraged people to settle in areas of the country that were underpopulated when the settlers arrived.

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Lake Oswego Oregon

In 1847, Albert Alonzo Durham established the town that would later be known as Oswego, and he named it after Oswego, New York. He established the first commercial enterprise in the community by constructing a sawmill on what is now known as Oswego Creek.

The surviving Clackamas people were moved to the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation in adjacent Yamhill County by the federal government in 1855. This relocation took place without their will.

At this early time in Oregon’s history, the majority of commerce traveled from Portland to Oregon City through the Willamette River, and then continued up the Tualatin River valley to Tualatin, Scholls, and Hillsboro. This route followed the Tualatin River valley. While going by land, there were significant challenges presented by the dense forests and the muddy roadways.

Throughout this stretch of land, it is still possible to see the ruins of river landings, ferry stations, and covered bridges that date back to this time period. It is believed that Durham established a landing for the transportation of lumber about the year 1850 in the area that is now known as George Rogers Park in the city. Another landing was located close to the point where Tryon Creek empties into the Willamette.

The Oregon Iron Company was established in 1865 after the previous discovery of iron ore in the Tualatin Valley served as the impetus for the establishment of the company. During the first two years, the first blast furnace on the West Coast was constructed. It was modeled after the arched furnaces that are widespread in the northern part of Connecticut, and the company’s goal was to make Oswego the “Pittsburgh of the West.”

In 1878, the firm was sold off to owners from other states and renamed the Oswego Iron Company. In 1882, Simeon Gannett Reed and Henry Villard, two investors from Portland, acquired the company and renamed it the Oregon Iron and Steel Company.

When a resident of Lake Oswego received an anonymous letter from neighbors asking them to take down their “Black Lives Matter” sign from the window, complaining that it lowers property values, the town received significant media attention in August 2020. This incident prompted Mayor Studebaker to issue a response to this matter. In the year 2020, a student from Lakeridge High School created a documentary with the title Lake No Negro that was about the segregated and racially restricted history of Lake Oswego.