The Building They Shaped – The Hatfield Courthouse at Twenty
By Doug Pahl Winston Churchill once observed, “We shape our buildings, and afterward our buildings shape us.” Twenty years ago, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Proctor Hug stood in the gleaming green lobby of the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse and reminded us of Churchill’s wisdom. It was November 13, 1997, and an unprecedented group of dignitaries gathered to celebrate and dedicate Portland’s first new courthouse since 1933. [Editorial note: After a collections digitization effort, we have added this 1994 video of the courtroom mock-up process as well as the courthouse dedication ceremony. The ceremony begins at about 10 minutes.] Judges, court staff, administration officials, designers, and artists, all…
When is a Postmaster Like the Man in the Moon? The Tumultuous Presidential Election of 1876
by Stephen Raher The presidential election of 1876 was a contentious battle over the future of the post-Civil War United States. Students of history will recall that Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina each submitted dueling vote tallies after the election, thus requiring Congressional action to decide the disputed results in those states. Less well-remembered, however, was an electoral controversy in a fourth state: Oregon. Setting the Stage In the years leading up to November 1876, political observers knew the election to replace President Ulysses S. Grant would be hotly contested. The policy of Reconstruction was under increasing attack, and while Republicans still controlled the Senate, anti-Reconstruction Democrats had regained a…