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Welcome to Portland ...

Portland is located in Ouray County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Portland, you might consider that their post office opened in 1878.

When the people of Portland refer to themselves (known as a demonym), they frequently use Portlander<2>

Portland is 7,260 feet [2,213 m] above sea level.<3> In other words, the altitude of Portland is about 1½ mile [or ~2¼ km] above sea level.

Time Zone: Portland lies in the Mountain Time Zone (MST/MDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Codes for Portland: 970 & 748<4>

Communities Also Named Portland ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are two Colorado communities named Portland: This one is located in Ouray County and the other is located in Fremont County.

Beyond Colorado, there are 32 communities that are also named Portland - they are located in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois (2), Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky (3), Maine, Michigan, Missouri, New York (2), Newfoundland and Labrador, North Dakota, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania (2), South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin (2).

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Portland.

Communities near Portland ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Portland.

  • Telluride
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Mountain Village
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Ouray
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Ridgway
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Silverton
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Ophir
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Ophir is located in San Miguel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ophir
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 190 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ophir <5>
  • Sawpit
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Sawpit is located in San Miguel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sawpit
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 38 people
    • Sawpit has also been known as:
    • Saw Pit
  • Dallas
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Dallas is located in Ouray County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dallas
  • Loghill Village
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Loghill Village is located in Ouray County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Loghill Village
  • Tomboy ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Tomboy is located in San Miguel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tomboy

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Portland. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Portland.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Portland. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Portland.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Portland. See our Newspapers Page for Portland.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Portland ...

Looking for more information about Portland? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Portland, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Portland.

Adding Portland to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Portland in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found (so far) for Portland was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<6>

From that list, the Portland post office opened in 1878. The Portland post office closed in 1896.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Portland.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Colorado's counties, including Ouray, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>A demonym is the name for a resident of a community which is usually derived from (or is related to) the name of that community. In other words, it's how the residents of Portland refer to themselves. It's important to note that there aren't any rules for taking a community's name and turning it into a demonym. A demonym is informal and while the majority of Portland may use one name, keep in mind that others may use something different.
<3>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Portland - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<4>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 970 code has been Overlayed with the 748 area code. New phone numbers in the Portland area will be assigned with one of these codes: 970 or 748. As a result, placing a call in the Portland area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<5>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<6>A copy of the Blevins & Helbock Post Office list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/