Stephen Coffin (1807 – 1882) was an investor, promoter, builder, and militia officer in mid-19th century

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. Born in

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

, he moved to

Oregon City Oregon City is the county seat of Clackamas County, Oregon, United States, located on the Willamette River near the southern limits of the Portland metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 37,572. Established in 1829 ...

in 1847, and in 1849 he bought a half-interest in the original Portland townsite."The City"
''Morning Astorian'', Astoria, Oregon, 19 March 1882, p. 3. Coffin's interests included the Tualatin Plank Road between Portland and the

Tualatin Valley The Tualatin Valley is a farming and suburban region southwest of Portland, Oregon. The valley is formed by the meandering Tualatin River, a tributary of the Willamette River at the northwest corner of the Willamette Valley, east of the Northe ...

, the Oregon Iron Company, an eastern Oregon sawmill, bridge-building, and other investments and projects. In 1856, he and a neighbor, Finice Caruthers, established the Pioneer Water Works to supply drinking water to Portland. In that same year, he helped found the

Oregon Republican Party The Oregon Republican Party is the U.S. state, state affiliate of the Republican Party (United States), United States Republican Party in Oregon, headquartered in Salem, Oregon, Salem. The party was established in the Oregon Territory in Februar ...

and was elected to the Portland city council a year later. His interests in transportation extended beyond roads and bridges to investments in the

People's Transportation Company The People's Transportation Company operated steamboats on the Willamette River and its tributaries, the Yamhill River, Yamhill and Tualatin River, Tualatin rivers, in the State of Oregon from 1862 to 1871. For a brief time this company operated ...

, which controlled shipping on the upper

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. Flowing northward ...

in the 1860s, and the

Oregon Central Railroad The Oregon Central Rail Road was the name of two railroad companies in the U.S. state of Oregon, each of which claimed federal land grants that had been assigned to the state in 1866 to assist in building a line from Portland south into California. ...

Stephen Coffin from Centennial History of Oregon

In 1863, after Coffin provided a steamboat for sending troops up the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...

to fight in the

Yakima War The Yakima War (1855–1858), also referred to as the Plateau War or Yakima Indian War, was a conflict between the United States and the Yakama, a Sahaptian-speaking people of the Northwest Plateau, then part of Washington Territory, and the tr ...

, Oregon Governor Addison Gibbs made him a brigadier general in the state militia."Appointed"
''The Weekly Oregonian'', Portland, Oregon, 7 November 1862, p. 2. Lucina Coffin

Coffin donated land to Portland's

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, th ...

for construction of a boys academy and a girls

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

. He and his wife also donated land to the public in 1871, including seven park blocks and several acres along the river at Jefferson Street for a public

levee A levee ( or ), dike (American English), dyke (British English; see American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, spelling differences), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is an elevated ridge, natural ...

. Coffin died in

Dayton, Oregon Dayton is a city in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. The population was 2,678 at the 2020 census. History The city was founded in 1850 by Andrew Smith and Joel Palmer. Palmer, who also served as superintendent of Indian affairs for Oregon ...

, on March 16, 1882.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coffin, Stephen 1807 births 1882 deaths American investors 19th-century people from Maine Businesspeople from Portland, Oregon People's Transportation Company 19th-century American businesspeople People from Oregon Territory