Top Historical Sites to See in Portland, Oregon, Portland, Oregon

Portland is the beloved Pacific Northwest city that is known for hipsters, sustainable food and being extremely weird. Behind all that modernism is a city chocked full of (seedy) history. Incorporated in 1851, and a bit of a Wild West town, most people say that the PNW gets prettier (and classier) the further north you go up towards Seattle and Vancouver.

Portland is great at preserving history and there is no shortage of interesting landmarks and stories. On your next visit to Portland, be sure to check out these historical sites.

In downtown Portland you'll notice bronze water fountains that continuously flow water. This is the city's iconic drinking fountains, that may or may not still flow water to this date. There are 52 fountains in the city along with 74 individual fountains.

So, how did these fountains come about? In 1912, a local lumber baron, Simon Benson, noticed alcohol on his worker's breath. They claimed there was no fresh drinking water and resorted to alcohol. Benson donated $10,000 to the city to build 20 bronze drinking fountains. Supposedly beer consumption decreased by 25% after the installation. See a map of the fountain locations here. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).