Portland Penny Puzzle

The OHS Museum Store is excited to collaborate with local designer Nance & Sasser on a limited edition puzzle featuring one of the most iconic objects in OHS’s museum collection: the Portland Penny. Visitors from around the world gather in the lobby of our museum for a glimpse of the 1835 American copper penny that named our city. According to The Oregon Encyclopedia, in 1845, two early developers — Asa Lovejoy of Boston, Massachusetts, and Francis Pettygrove of Portland, Maine — decided that their growing village nestled between the Willamette and Columbia Rivers needed a name. Over dinner, they agreed to a two-out-of-three toss naming contest — Boston if Lovejoy won, Portland if Pettygrove won. With three tosses of a penny, Pettygrove was the winner and Portland got its name.