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History and Heritage
Forest Grove is a historic town
first settled in
1841 by a small group of educators and missionaries.
Pacific University
(originally known as Tualatin
Academy) was established in 1849, becoming the first
chartered university west of the Mississippi.
Forest Grove has three designated National
Historic Districts:
the Clark District, Painter’s
Woods District and the Walker Naylor District, with
homes dating back to the 1850s and a number of
buildings listed in the National Register of Historic
Places.
Forest Grove also has a long history of
viticulture.
The first Oregon wine medal was
won by a Forest Grove winemaker in 1904 and the
first production of Oregon’s famed Pinot Noir grapes
was planted in Forest Grove in 1965. Thirty years later,
neighboring Tualatin Estate’s Pinot Noir captured the
Governor’s Trophy, Oregon’s most prestigious wine
award.
Experiencing the rich history of Forest
Grove is easy,
through a self-guided stroll or a
professionally guided tour.