Merchants, Money, And Power: The Portland Establishment, 1843-1913

by E. Kimbark MacColl

Book by MacColl, E. Kimbark

Genres: History, Nonfiction

516 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

A native of New York, Eugene Kimbark "Kim" MacColl received his A.B. from Princeton, his M.A. from the University of Colorado, and his Ph.D. in American constitutional history from UCLA. After teaching at Occidental College and Reed College, he served as Headmaster of the Catlin Gabel School in Portland from 1958 until 1966. After teaching part-time at Catlin Gabel from 1966 until 1974, he became an adjunct instructor at Portland State University.

Reviews

[Jeffrey Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like to study local & regional history and this is an absolutely fascinating book. It details nearly everything to do with the establishment of Portland as a regional trading center and commercial hub. It's compelling in how it documents and describes the relationships between the various early settlers and their business endeavors. It's full of detail without it feeling excessive or overwhelming.

Anybody who's interested in the early history of Portland really ought to read this book. I can't recommend it enough.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fun to read because it was the history of Portland and you get to meet all the people who the streets are named after. (Though that mostly happened later.) Very detailed, it follows the Establishment and the top familes. Man if you thought govt sucks now, how about back when it was totally controlled by the rich who used specifically to make them selves richer- not even pretense to help the people.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating read into the early history of Portland. I grew up in Oregon and knew practically none of this. Loved it.