Portland General Electric Company

The Portland General Electric Company has ties to two power companies of the late 1880s in northwest Oregon. In 1884, the United States Electric Light and Power Company was founded by Parker F. Morey and Fredrick Van Voorhies Holman. In 1889, the Willamette Falls Electric Company began producing power in Oregon City, Oregon. The company was founded by Parker F. Morey and Edward Eastham. Morey was president of the company from 1891-1892. Edward L. Eastham was president of the company from 1888 until his death in 1891. Both United States Electric Light and Power and Willamette Falls Electric Company became the Portland General Electric (PGE) in 1895. PGE was a company that sold power, and controlled trolley lines in Portland. From 1895 to the 1920s, the company became a monopoly in Portland, with influence in many aspects of the city. In 1905, the company was a major force behind the Lewis and Clark Exposition. Becoming the Portland Railway Light and Power Company in 1906, the company had control as a power and light company, which the public disliked. By 1913, with public reform measures, the company's monopoly ended. The company was saved from bankruptcy in the 1930s by working with the government's Bonneville Power Administration to distribute power. Low power rates helped the company avoid bankruptcy. By the early 1940s, the company had reorganized several times. The post war boom of the late 1940s helped the company tremendously. High consumer demand encouraged the company to look for new sources of hydroelectric power and the company built dams along streams, and worked to develop power on the Columbia River. PGE continued until 1981.