The Story

A Coin Toss Named Portland, Oregon

The two New England natives who founded Portland called The Clearing at the time both vied for the bragging rights of naming the 640-acre locale after their respective hometowns.

Pioneers Asa Lovejoy from Boston Massachusetts and Francis Pettygrove of Portland, Maine split the site's land claim, and in 1845 settled the decision on a coin toss.

Pettygrove won the best two-out-of-three coin toss in the parlor of the Francis Ermatinger House in Oregon City and the rest is history. Portland was incorporated in 1849, and the copper one-cent piece, minted in 1835 and now dubbed the Portland Penny, is on display at the Oregon Historical Society Museum.

Coin Toss Brewing Company was founded with a nod to the region's rich history, its pioneering spirit, and for the event that named Beervana, the center of the Craft Beer Universe!