McLoughlin House
McLoughlin House in Portland, Oregon
Imagine that it is 1847. You are standing in one of the nicest and most elaborate homes in Oregon. Where are you? You are in McLoughlin House! Doctor John McLoughlin lived in the house with
his family for ten years, during the pioneer settlement of Oregon.
He did lots of amazing things, such as saving lives, and letting homeless newcomers have a place to stay for a while.
John McLoughlin was born in Quebec. He was a trained doctor, but ended up being Chief Factor (Superintendent) for the Hudson’s Bay fur trading Company.
He came from Canada to the Northwest in 1824 and started Fort Vancouver in 1825. His boss told him to make sure the company kept control of the fur trading in the area,
keep peace with the Indian tribes, and discourage people from settling in the area.
Over time, John lost control of the fur trading. Pioneers came along the Oregon Trail with hardly any food or money. John helped them settle, against his boss’s wishes.
He gave them supplies to make it through the winter, and loaned them money to start businesses. Because of his kindness, his boss forced him to retire and leave Fort Vancouver,
so John built McLoughlin House. He planned the whole house, and the timbers from his own sawmill were used to build it. The house was completed in 1846, the same year John moved in.
McLoughlin House is shaped like a square, with four large bedrooms on the second floor. He probably built so many rooms so his whole family could live there.
His big family, consisting of John, his wife Marguerite, their children and their grandchildren, all lived there together.
But it wasn’t just his family that stayed in the house. Anyone could stop by and get a bed if they needed a place to stay for a while. They didn’t have to pay and they got free food.
If all the rooms were full, people could even roll up in a quilt on the floor in the hallways. That’s how kind he was.
John became mayor of Oregon City, after becoming an American citizen in 1851. He started many businesses and was very successful. He was well known for donating land to build schools and churches on.
Everyone missed him when he died in 1857. His family moved out in 1867, ten years after John’s death. After that, McLoughlin House became the Phoenix Hotel. Sadly, over the years, it
became a rundown apartment tenement. Even though it was rundown, the Hawley Pulp and Paper Company bought the building in 1908, decided they didn’t want it, and donated it to the city one year later.
The company donated the historic house to the city so they could move it, rather than tearing it down. The city wanted to save it, because it symbolized pioneer settlement of the Oregon Territory.
It was a great idea to move it, but little did they know how hard it would be figuring out how to do it! They didn’t have trucks and cranes back then!
When they moved the house in 1909, they had to use a single horse to move it from next to the river near Willamette Falls, and pull it up Singer Hill to where it is now, positioned on a bluff overlooking the Willamette River.
After the move, it took a whole lot of volunteers to fix it up. McLoughlin House really was a huge disaster!
Did you know that John McLoughlin and his house were so important before you read this? A house can only be important if the person living inside it is special, and John sure was special!
He even earned the name “Father of Oregon” for helping settle the state.
His house became a museum in 1910, to show John McLoughlin’s life and his accomplishments. It is still a museum today, and still located on Center Street in Oregon City, overlooking the Willamette River.
If you want to learn more about McLoughlin House, you can visit the house Wednesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., during spring, summer and fall. You should check it out!
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Portland, Oregon facts
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