McMenamins History Pubs: Uncover Oregon’s People and Places

Photo by Merve Şahin

McMenamins History Pub invites you to explore Oregon and Pacific Northwest history.

Enjoy an evening with local experts, scholars, first-person experiencers and historians who dive into topics from Lewis and Clark to shipwrecks, hop growing to women pioneers and beyond.

McMenamins History Pub is like attending a college lecture with a stiff drink and full menu of tasty food.

Here are the upcoming events.

Upcoming McMenamins History Pub Events

From Sea to Shining Sea: Katharine Lee Bates and the Story of “America the Beautiful”

Watch a documentary about “America the Beautiful” and the fascinating life of the writer behind it followed by a Q&A discussion with filmmakers Laurence Cotton and John de Graaf, moderated by Oregon Historical Society Executive Director Kerry Tymchuk. 

The event is at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 30, at Kennedy School, 5736 NE 33rd Ave. in Portland.

Tickets are $5 in advance. All ages are welcome.

The Origins of Baseball

Historian John Bawden explores how baseball developed and how the American Civil War spread one variety of baseball across the United States. Explore the first amateur baseball clubs in the Pacific Northwest, the Pioneer Base Ball Club of Portland in 1866.

The event is at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 8, at the Grand Lodge, 3505 Pacific Ave. in Forest Grove.

Tickets are $5 in advance. All ages are welcome.

Memories of Multnomah County Fair

Join Anne Endicott and Len Otto of Troutdale Historical Society on an adventure back in time to the start of the Multnomah County Fair in 1906. Explore the early days of  pies, “ponies” (aka horse racing) and pig races.

The event is at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 13, at Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey St. in Troutdale.

Tickets are $5 in advance. All ages are welcome.

The Ink of Time: The Intersection of History and Comics

Discover history told through the prism of comic books with Mark Russell of the Northwest Museum of Cartoon Arts. From comics based entirely on historic events like Age of Bronze and Maus to popular DC and Marvel titles like Superman and Captain America, Mark traces a story of comic books and graphic novels’ representation of history.

The event is at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 27, at Kennedy School, 5736 NE 33rd Ave. in Portland.

Tickets are $5 in advance. All ages are welcome.

Lincoln, Civil War, and the Pacific Northwest

Discover how Abraham Lincoln shaped a region he never visited, and how the Pacific Northwest helped shape the Union he fought to preserve. Long before the Civil War, Lincoln was offered a leadership role in Oregon Territory, a little-known sign of the Pacific Northwest’s national importance. In this talk, historian Ira Wesley Kitmacher reframes the Civil War from the nation’s West.

The event is at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 13, at the Grand Lodge, 3505 Pacific Ave. in Forest Grove.

Tickets are $5 in advance. All ages are welcome.

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