Crater Lake National Park opened in 1902. (Oregon State Archives Photo) Crater Lake National Park opens Congress passes Federal Reclamation Act Voters amend Constitution for Initiative and Referendum, allowing citizens to propose new laws and constitutional amendments
Heppner Flood kills 225 people First Voters' Pamphlet published
Direct primary law passes First African-American, George Hardin, named officer in Portland Police Bureau
Lewis & Clark Centennial Exposition commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Exposition Klamath Irrigation Project commences Oregon land fraud trials pursue wrongdoers
City home rule law approved allowing extensive city lawmaking authority Indictment by grand jury law approved Taxes begin on telephone, telegraph and railroads First meeting of Association of Oregon Counties
President Theodore Roosevelt creates "Midnight Reserves" setting aside millions of acres of national forests
Constitution amended for Recall provision First woman, Lola Baldwin, named head of Women's Division, Portland Police
State's Central Fish Hatchery opens at Bonneville Oregon Caves National Monument created Pendleton Round-Up begins Congress passes Enlarged Homestead Act
U.S. Census enumerates 672,765 residents Three-fourths verdict in civil cases approved Employers' Liability Act approved
Construction began on the Columbia River Gorge Highway in 1911. (Oregon State Archives Image) Columbia River Gorge Highway construction begins First U.S. primary elections held in Oregon Oregon Trunk Railroad completes line to Bend
Women's suffrage approved Prohibition of private convict labor approved Eight-hour day on public works approved First U.S. minimum wage law approved
Oregon Highway Commission established Presidential preference primary law approved Governor Oswald West declares beaches open to public
Death penalty abolished Prohibition approved Eight-hour day approved for women Congress revests O & C Railroad land grant Legislature requires publication of Oregon Blue Book
Workmen complete Celilo Locks and Canal Congress passes Stock-Raising Homestead Act
University of Oregon football team beats Pennsylvania to win the third Rose Bowl game U.S. Army Spruce Production Division begins logging
Influenza pandemic kills hundreds Emergency Fleet Corporation contracts for ships An Army war enlistment poster from World War I. Learn more in the Oregon at War Web exhibit. Oregonians enlist to serve in World War I
First gasoline tax in U.S. authorized to fund highways Congress revests Coos Bay Wagon Road land grant
Death penalty reinstated Oregon League of Women Voters founded U.S. Census enumerates 783,389 residents
Ku Klux Klan organizes chapters
First state park opened by Oregon Highway Commission south of Monmouth, named for Sarah Helmick Compulsory School Act approved outlawing private and parochial schools and requiring children aged 8 to 18 to attend public school First African-American woman, Beatrice Cannady, graduates from Lewis & Clark Law School Japanese American Citizens' League founded
Alien Land Law approved preventing first generation Japanese Americans from owning or leasing land Alien Business Restriction Law approved denying business licenses to first generation Japanese Americans Prohibition of sectarian garb in schools approved Alien Business Restriction Law approved
Compulsory School Act held unconstitutional Congress extends citizenship to Native Americans Clarke-McNary Act aids federal-state forest fire protection
State parks and waysides authorized League of Oregon Cities founded
Fishwheels abolished Astor Column completed Exclusion of African-Americans clause removed from Constitution
State Park Commission created
An irrigation ditch near Vale. (Oregon State Archives Photo) Vale Irrigation Project begins water delivery U.S. Census enumerates 953,786 residents First woman, Mary Jane Spurlin, appointed judge in Oregon to Multnomah County District Court
Tillamook Burn destroys 240,000 acres of forest Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Projects Administration start projects
First grazing district under Taylor Grazing Act forms at Bonanza
Congress authorizes Bonneville Dam Fire destroys State Capitol
Bandon Fire destroys town, 11 residents die Work completed on five major bridges on Highway 101 First woman, Nan Wood Honeyman, elected from Oregon to U.S. House of Representatives
President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates Timberline Lodge and Bonneville Dam Gas chamber built for capital punishments Oregon Shakespeare Festival forms in Ashland Congress creates Bonneville Power Administration Bankhead-Jones Act authorizes buy out of homesteaders
544 Report for Willamette flood control approved Bonneville Dam completed
University of Oregon wins first NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Tillamook Burn destroys 190,000 acres of forest State capitol completed in Salem
U.S. Census enumerates 1,089,684 residents
Oregonians enlist to serve in World War II
Learn more in the Life on the Home Front Web exhibit about World War II. Executive Order 9066 authorizes removal of Japanese-Americans to internment camps Japanese submarine shells Fort Stevens Siskiyou National Forest firebombed by Japanese U.S. Army builds Camp Adair and Camp Abbot U.S. Navy builds Tillamook and Tongue Point Naval Air Stations Vanport founded to house wartime workers
Six Oregonians die in explosion of Japanese incendiary balloon Tillamook Burn destroys 180,000 acres of forest Supplement to 1923 Alien Land Law passes
Portland State University (PSU) founded Rural School Law encourages consolidation of districts
Plane crash kills Governor Snell, Secretary of State Farrell, and others
Columbia River Flood destroys Vanport in hours Vollum and Murdock found Tektronix
State Department of Forestry begins replanting Tillamook Burn Fair Labor Practices Commission established State Supreme Court invalidates 1923 and 1945 Alien Land acts First woman, Dorothy McCullough Lee, elected Portland mayor
U.S. Census enumerates 1,521,341 residents