William Henderson Packwood was the youngest delegate to Oregon's Constitutional Convention in 1857 and became a versatile entrepreneur in the new state. A soldier, miner, …

Oregon Encyclopedia

William Patton, the first general manager and executive director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) in Ashland, believed that art is connective—that is, that …

Oregon Encyclopedia

A brash, opportunistic cavalry officer with an explosive temper and a vindictive predilection for conflict with Indians, fellow officers, and foreign powers, Gen. William Selby …

Oregon Encyclopedia

At age twenty-seven, William Sargent Ladd was the youngest mayor to ever serve in Portland. Ladd is best known, however, for his business acumen, …

Oregon Encyclopedia

William Stafford, one of America’s most widely read poets, was born in Hutchinson, Kansas, in 1914 to Ruby and Earl Ingersoll Stafford, the first of …

Oregon Encyclopedia

William “Bill” Naito was born in Portland in 1925. His parents, Hide and Fukiye, had emigrated in the 1910s from Japan, and Hide ran a …

Oregon Encyclopedia

William S. U’Ren wielded enormous influence on American politics and played a major role in the formation of governmental policies in Oregon. A quiet and …

Oregon Encyclopedia

William Trufant Foster was the first president of Reed College, which was founded in Portland in 1908. Under his leadership, Reed instituted policies and …

Oregon Encyclopedia

In addition to the community organizing that characterized so many of her contemporaries, Willie Mae Young Hart made a habit of breaking the color line. …

Oregon Encyclopedia

Republican Willis Chatman Hawley represented the 1st Congressional District in northwest Oregon from March 1907 to March 1933. As chair of the House Ways and …

Oregon Encyclopedia