The Francis Ermatinger House is located in Oregon City, Oregon

Oregon City, Oregon

Oregon City was the first city in the United States west of the Rocky Mountains to be incorporated. It is the county seat of Clackamas County, Oregon...

, United States. Built by Francis Ermatinger in 1845, it is the oldest house in Clackamas County

Clackamas County, Oregon

Clackamas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. The county was named after the Native Americans living in the area, the Clackamas Indians, who were part of the Chinookan people. As of 2010, the population was 375,992...

. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 in 1977, and is currently operated as a museum.

Built in the Greek Revival

Greek Revival architecture

The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...

 style, the house was originally located near the Willamette River

Willamette River

The Willamette River is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States...

, in the downtown area near Willamette Falls

Willamette Falls

The Willamette Falls is a natural waterfall on the Willamette River between Oregon City and West Linn, Oregon, in the United States. It is the largest waterfall in the Pacific Northwest and the eighteenth largest in the world by water volume. Horseshoe in shape, it is wide and high with a flow...

. Francis Ermatinger, an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

, remained in Oregon City after the company abandoned its operations there in 1845.

The house has been moved twice in its history, first in 1910 to the corner of 11th and Center streets, and again in 1986 to its current location at the corner of 6th and John Adams streets, adjacent to the Stevens Crawford House museum.

It was in the Ermatinger House's left parlor that the famous coin toss

Portland Penny

The Portland Penny is the name subsequently given to a specific coin, a U.S. copper one-cent piece, used to decide the name of Portland, Oregon, United States...

 between Francis Pettygrove

Francis Pettygrove

Francis William Pettygrove , commonly known as William Pettygrove, was a pioneer and one of the founders of the cities of Portland, Oregon, and Port Townsend, Washington. Born in Maine, he re-located to the Oregon Country in 1843 to establish a store in Oregon City...

 and Asa Lovejoy

Asa Lovejoy

Asa Lawrence Lovejoy was an American pioneer and politician in the region that would become the U.S. state of Oregon. He is best remembered as a founder of the city of Portland, Oregon...

 occurred, reputedly during a dinner party held in the house in 1845. The two were arguing about whether the town they envisioned on their land claim

Donation Land Claim Act

The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 was a statute enacted by the United States Congress intended to promote homestead settlement in the Oregon Territory in the Pacific Northwest...

, then called The Clearing, should be incorporated as Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

—Lovejoy's hometown in Massachusetts—or Portland

Portland, Maine

Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...

—Pettygrove's hometown in Maine. Pettygrove won two out of three tosses, resulting in the city of Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

.

The house has been moved twice and the house has been unstable, resulting in the windows being removed. It is closed to the public. With the future of the house in flux, it is one of ten entries on the Historic Preservation League of Oregon

Historic Preservation League of Oregon

The Historic Preservation League of Oregon is a 501 nonprofit corporation with a mission to “Preserve, Reuse, and Pass Forward Oregon’s Historic Resources to Ensure Livable, Sustainable Communities." Formed in Eugene, Oregon, in 1976, the HPLO was officially incorporated in 1977 and relocated to...

's Most Endangered Places in Oregon 2011 list.

External links

• Ermatinger House from City of Oregon City Parks and Recreation Department
• 619 6th Street - Francis Ermatinger House from City of Oregon City Planning Department