History

OPB's new documentary exposes the complex and often shocking history of one of Oregon’s most notorious institutions — the Fairview Training Center. For many residents, it was the only home they ever knew. For others, it was a living nightmare.

Twenty years ago, the last resident left Fairview Training Center. It closed in 2000 amid lawsuits and investigations. But for nearly 100 years, Fairview was Oregon's primary institution for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. For many residents, it was the only home they ever knew. For others, it was a living nightmare.

In the 1970s, Oregon’s desert playas and vast canyons played host to daredevils near and far. Fearless thrill-seekers came to the state to make daring land speed attempts and perform outrageous stunts.

On the Saturday before Election Day 2020, an open letter of concern signed by scholars of authoritarianism warned, "Regardless of the outcome of the United States election, democracy as we know it is already imperiled. However, it is not too late to turn the tide." University of Oregon Professor Diana Garvin, who studies the history of Italian fascism, is one of the scholars that signed the letter.

In 1948, Portland hosted the United States’ first-ever nationally broadcast presidential debate. The face-off, between two candidates competing for the Republican nomination, is widely seen as the precedent for today’s debates.

In August of 1970, at the height of the Vietnam War, President Richard Nixon was slated to come to Portland, and so were thousands of antiwar protesters. That's when some young liberal Oregonians teamed up with Republican Gov. Tom McCall on a plan to lure thousands of potential antiwar demonstrators into the woods for a weekend of rock 'n' roll and avoid a projected violent clash in the City of Roses. This is the story of Oregon Vortex 1: A Biodegradable Festival of Life.

There have been few things as divisive in Portland's history as the debate over whether to add fluoride to the drinking water.

The Black Resilience Fund provides emergency financial support to Black Portlanders facing what some have called two overlapping pandemics: the coronavirus and ongoing systemic racism. 

The state is expanding its mask requirement to include all children five and older, a step initially announced by Gov. Kate Brown at a press conference Wednesday morning. That includes schools.

Fifty years ago Oregon officials decided to blow up a dead whale. What happened next is the stuff of legend.