Oregon 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.

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.

The exploding whale is a piece of Oregon lore that just won’t go away. It’s one of those real-life stories that just sounds too strange to be real.

The story of the Portland Trail Blazers started with a forgotten raincoat, a locked bathroom and a harrowing drive through downtown Los Angeles to Beverly Hills.

In 1933, with its only bank closed and the country in the midst of the Great Depression, the Oregon shipbuilding and timber city of North Bend turned to a local resource to keep its economy afloat.

During the Cold War, Portland was a national poster child for nuclear preparedness. But in just a few years, the city dismantled the very same program that earned it recognition.

It was brief, but for a moment, Oregon was the undisputed Thanksgiving capital of the nation. The state officially held Thanksgiving twice in 1893 and again in 1894.

The Cloud Cap Inn is the oldest Alpine lodge in the United States.

Before there was Krusty, there was Rusty. Meet the Portlander who inspired "The Simpsons" Krusty the Clown.

In 1962 the junior chamber of commerce in Brookings invited a Japanese fighter pilot to be an honored guest in the town's Azalea Festival. The pilot had tried to destroy the town 20 years earlier.