In 1845 Asa Lovejoy and Francis Pettygrove flipped a coin to determine who would get to name their new settlement in Oregon. Both wanted to pay homage to their respective hometowns of Boston, Massachusetts and Portland, Maine. Pettygrove won two out of three coin tosses, and the area formerly known as The Clearing became Portland. The Oregon Territory was incorporated into the United States in 1849.
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