The Early Years of Portland, 1800s-1940s
The Ionia County town of Portland was home to many Native American tribes, pre-1830s. Then in 1833, Elisha Newman arrived and settled near the Looking Glass and Grand rivers. Portland is now known as “The City of Two Rivers” as both flow through downtown.
Why was it named Portland ?
Sometime around 1836, the settlers got together for a meeting in order to give their new community a name...mainly, because they felt mail would get to them easier if they had an actual town name. Some of the suggestions given at the meeting were Boguetown, Boyerville, Jamestown, and Newmanville. As the names were being pondered over, one of the attendees,