Francis Pettygrove

Francis William Pettygrove ( – October 5, 1887) was an American pioneer and merchant who was one of the founders of the cities of Portland, Oregon, and Port Townsend, Washington. Born in Maine, he re-located to the Oregon Country in 1843 to establish a store in Oregon City. Later that year he paid $50 for half of a land claim on which he and Asa Lovejoy laid out a town named Portland after the port city in Pettygrove's home state. Lovejoy preferred Boston, but Pettygrove won a coin toss giving him the right to choose the name.

Teamed with Benjamin Stark, who bought Lovejoy's half-interest in the town site in 1845, Pettygrove engaged in a highly profitable three-cornered trade between Portland, San Francisco, and Hawaii. Making money in his stores and warehouses, in trades of lumber, grain, and salted fish, and in real-estate deals, Pettygrove by 1848 was one of the richest men in the Oregon Territory. When the California Gold Rush drew potential laborers from Oregon and threatened Pettygrove's short-term prospects, he sold his assets in Portland and vicinity. In 1851 he joined with others to start a new town, Port Townsend, on Puget Sound in what became the U.S. state of Washington. He died at the age of 75 and was buried in Port Townsend.

Pettygrove was married to Sophia Roland, with whom he had at least two children, one of whom was named after Benjamin Stark. While living in Oregon, he belonged to the Pioneer Lyceum and Literary Club of Oregon City and served as jury foreman in a trial there related to the Cayuse War. Pettygrove Park in southwest Portland and Pettygrove Street in northwest Portland are named after him.

Early life Pettygrove was born in Calais, Maine. Educated in Maine schools, he worked as a merchant's clerk in New York City before a company there sent him by ship in 1842 to Oregon City to open a store. The two men cleared trees and debris from the site. He also acquired a granary and boat landing at Champoeg, site of the Oregon Country's first provisional government. During that year, the California Gold Rush attracted so many men from Oregon that it caused an Oregon labor shortage. Seeing little hope of further short-term growth in Portland, Pettygrove began selling his assets. While Stark was out of town, Pettygrove sold the entire townsite, including Stark's share, to Daniel H. Lownsdale for $5,000 worth of leather. Pettygrove died there in 1887 and is buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery.

Other interests, legacy Pettygrove married Sophia Roland in 1842. The second child, named Benjamin Stark Pettygrove, was the first boy of European descent born in Portland.

Lovejoy and Pettygrove used a copper Matron Head penny, dated 1835, in their coin flip to determine Portland's name. Pettygrove bequeathed this penny to the Oregon Historical Society in his will. Pettygrove Street in northwest Portland is also named for him.