“I Before E Like in Milwaukie.” If that phrase doesn’t grate on one’s nerves or otherwise sound completely wrong, it probably means the reader came from a location outside of the United States. Or came from Oregon. Because Milwaukie does exist in Oregon. I discovered that recently while examining 12MC reader statistics. Someone visited the website from Milwaukie and it caught my eye because of its unusual spelling. The more standard variant, of course, would be Milwaukee with double-e as used in the large city of that name in Wisconsin.
I found two takeaways. First, anyone arriving on Twelve Mile Circle from an unusual location will always be fair game for a future article. Second, I felt compelled to learn whether Milwaukie and Milwaukee somehow maintained a connection. That’s my nature and that’s always going to happen.
I’ll spoil the surprise right at the beginning. Yes I saw a connection. Alright, everyone can go home now.
Lot Whitcomb
Credit an early Western pioneer and entrepreneur, Lot Whitcomb, for the Oregonian name. He founded the town in 1848 (map). Without a doubt he named it for Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Milwaukie Historical Society of Milwaukie, Oregon issued a History of Milwaukie Oregon in 1965. They based it on an unfinished manuscript prepared as part of the Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. The manuscript noted the etymology of Milwaukee; a “gathering place by the water” in various Algonquian languages such as Potawatomi and Ojibwe (Chippewa).
Settlers founded Milwaukee in Wisconsin where three rivers converged, the Milwaukee, Menomonee and Kinnickinnic, forming a natural harbor immediately prior to entering Lake Michigan. Whitcomb admired the success of the Wisconsin city that he attributed in part to its favorable geographic placement. Therefore he searched for a similarly-situated location in Oregon. He found such a spot along the Willamette river where “Kellogg Creek, Johnson Creek and many smaller branches fed by the multiplicity of springs in the vicinity” came together in a comparable fashion.
A New Town in Oregon
Whitcomb platted his town and named it Milwaukee. Later the spelling changed to Milwaukie. The exact reason for the change became the topic of various apocryphal tales. The History of Milwaukie Oregon concluded that the most likely explanation involved the Postal Service wanting to reduce postal mistakes. Less mail would be routed erroneously if the spellings differed.
Milwaukie’s primary claim to fame has been the Bing Cherry. That famous fruit also had a fascinating history.
“Henderson Luelling traveled to Oregon with a wagon full of fruit tree seedlings and, in effect, delivered the tree fruit industry to the West. Henderson’s younger brother, Seth followed in 1850, settling in Milwaukie, Oregon, where he established a commercial tree fruit nursery (and curiously, changed the spelling of his name.)… Ah Bing was Seth Lewelling’s Manchurian foreman who oversaw 30 Chinese farm workers and helped run the nursery. Accounts differ as to whether it was Seth or Bing who developed the large black sweet cherry variety, but the Bing cherry was developed at the Lewelling nursery and named in honor of the Chinese foreman.”
I never realized Bing cherries were actually named for a person. Also, why the fixation with spelling changes in that part of Oregon?
Finally I guess I should mention that Milwaukie serves as the home of Dark Horse Comics so nobody should feel a need to mention that in the comments.
Back to Milwaukee
I examined the Geographic Names Information System to see if I could find other places named Milwaukee, Milwaukie or whatever other variations might be possible. Very few existed and I found almost nothing more related to any of them. The Milwaukee in Pennsylvania, however, found its way into a YouTube video by a guy who randomly hit a map with a Sharpie while blindfolded. It landed on a tiny village near Scranton (map). He drove three hours to Milwaukee the next day to see a few homes and a pie shop.
Actually, the guy followed an interesting premise called Here a Year, “to embody the three verbs (Live, Discover, Connect).” He let his readers select a state for him to live in for a year and the audience chose Pennsylvania. The Milwaukee video became one of many articles and videos he posted from March 2012 to March 2013 during his Pennsylvania year. I always find out about these wonderful ideas after the fact. I would have enjoyed following along with his adventures as they unfolded.
He selected another state afterwards, Nevada, and a few months later the trail ran cold. I have no idea what he switched to after that — probably got swallowed up in Vegas for all we know — and disappeared. I suppose I could fill-out the contact form on his website and see what happened although, well… that would entail effort. I’m sure he did fine.
Someday I’d love to undertake a year-long county counting journey. I’ll get right on that after I collect my lottery winnings.
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