| Date | Event |
| 1730 | First Great Awakening (Global) |
| 1775 - 1783 | Revolutionary War. |
| 1776 | Congress accepts Declaration of Independence. Yankee seamen start to operate along coast of Oregon. |
| Mar. 22, 1778 | Captain Cook lands at Nootka Sound. |
| 1779 | "Oregon" name first used in print by Jonathan Carver. First white men land on shore of Oregon. |
| 1786 | Eight English traders operated along coast of Oregon. |
| May 11, 1792 | Captain Robert Gray, an American, sails his ship the Columbia across the bar and named the river Columbia. This established the earliest claim to the Oregon territory (by discovery), and by an American. |
| Oct. 29, 1792 | Mt. Hood sighted and named. |
| November, 1805 | Lewis and Clark reached the Portland site, establishing American claim by exploration. |
| 1812-1813 | Robert Stuart is the first to use the easiest route across the Rockies eastward from the territory, laying initial establishment to a route for settlers and enabling further America's claim to the territory. |
| 1829 | First wagon train crosses the pass in the Rockies. |
| 1829 | Etienne Lucier is first settler of Present-day Portland area, moving to French Prairie. |
| 1830 | Americans start to settle at French Praire, establishing America's claim rights. |
| 1831 | A delegation of Nez Perces traveled to St. Louis seeking William Clark (who was an Episcopalian). This was a primary force in initiating the missionary sending of Jason Lee. St. Johns Bridge opened - first Portland bridge over Willamette. Suspension bridge. |
| January 1, 1833 | First school west of Rockies at Fort Vancouver, John Ball (first teacher in Oregon Territory). |
| July 17, 1833 | Jason Lee appointed as missionary to Oregon as a result of 1831 Indian delegation.. |
| 1834 | First still set up in area (by Ewing Young) (near Newberg). Young later (1838) set up lumber mill. |
| July 27, 1834 | Indians attend service of Jason Lee, Methodist missionary. |
| November 3, 1834 | First mission in Oregon country (Vancouver) completed. |
| December 14, 1834 | Jason Lee baptizes 21 new converts. |
| 1836 | First temperance society formed (Jason Lee). Still destroyed by owner (Erwin Young). Young then helps bringing the first cattle to the area. |
| 1836 | Episcopal missionaries arrive at Fort Vancouver. Whitmans, Spaldings, and W. H. Gray arrive in territory to begin mission work. Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding were first white women to cross continent. Spalding settled in Clearwater, Idaho and Whitmans near Walla Walla. (Whitman college from 1839 is named for Whitmans.) |
| 1838 | Lumber mill opens near Newberg (by Ewing Young and Solomon Smith). |
| November 24, 1838 | Blanchet arrives, first Catholic missionary to area. |
| 1840 | Oregon Trail defined, enabling the shifting of the valley population to predominately American. |
| 1841 | Congregational missionaries arrive. New mill for lumber in Oregon. |
| 1842 | John Couch ties his boat to foot of present-day Washington Street. William Johnson builds a cabin just south of The Clearing. First structure built solely for religious purposes: Methodist church at Oregon City. First Congregational church. First circulating library in Oregon at Oregon City. |
| 1843 | Hudson Bay Company starts moving to Vancouver Island from area, completing the move in 1845. |
| May 28, 1843 | Provisional government defined at Champoeg. |
| July 5, 1843 | Clackamas, Washington, and Yamhill counties established. |
| 1844-1846 | Asa Lovejoy and Francis Pettygrove move to Portland from New England. Overton sells out to Pettygrove. Lovejoy sells to Stark |
| 1844 | Early development of Yamhill District Blacks forbidden in Oregon. |
| May 25, 1844 | First Baptist church organized at West Union near Hillsboro.. First hospital First ferry at Oregon City. |
| December 24, 1844 | Oregon City incorporated, oldest incorporated town on the west coast. |
| 1845 | Portland is named. |
| February 8, 1845 | First Baptist sermon in Oregon. |
| 1846 | (National: Mormons begin pilgrimage from Illinois to Utah.) |
| 1846 | Portland has twelve or fifteen houses and a population of 60. Ferry started by James B. Stephens, later becomes the Stark street ferry. Treaty with Great Britain sets northern Oregon boundary at 49 degrees. The Oregon Spectator, first newspaper in Northwest, begins publishing in Oregon City. First Masonic Lodge west of Mississippi built. |
| January 1, 1847 | First book printed in Oregon: Webster's Speller, abridged edition. Printed at Oregon City. |
| 1847 | Massacre of Whitmans and 12 - 14 others at Waiilatpo by Cayuse Indians (near present-day Walla Walla), accelerating Oregon becoming a territory. |
| 1847 | First major northwest "war" with Indians, initiated by Whitman massacre. Result was hanging of five Cayuse Indians responsible for massacre. |
| August 14, 1848 | Oregon becomes a territory. Included what is now Oregon, Washington, Idaho, western Montana, and western Wyoming. |
| 1848 | Gold discovered in California causing many to leave the Portland townsite and, in many cases, their family. (By 1860 all major religions were represented in California.)Pettygrove sells out to Lownsdale Oregon legislators pass bill to prohibit blacks and mulattoes from settling in territory. First church in Portland organized by James H. Wilbur, a Methodist Episcopal missionary. |
| 1849 | Only three men remained in Portland. A spirit of abandonment prevades the area. The women and children of the men were left behind in the rush for gold to mind the stores for settlers coming into town. |
