Join us as we celebrate Portland State's origins as Vanport College and its place in the rich history of Vanport. This event will kick off the 8th Annual Vanport Mosaic Festival honoring former residents, survivors, and descendants, and marks the 75th anniversary of the Vanport Flood. 

Please RSVP to join us for this special celebration!

Thursday, May 18  |  2:30PM
PSU Vanport Building  |  1810 SW 5th Avenue
Light refreshments served at 2:00pm.
Event begins at 2:30pm.

Did you know that Portland State University started in Vanport, a temporary federal housing project built in 1942 between VANcouver and PORTland to house the thousands of people coming to Oregon from the rest of the country to work in the Kaiser shipyards?

In 1946, the Oregon State System of Higher Education launched an extension program in Vanport to serve returning WWII veterans and their families. Its operations were cut short by the Vanport Flood of 1948, but the Vanport Extension Center, immediately known as Vanport College to its faculty and students, later relocated to downtown Portland and grew into Portland State, now Oregon's largest university.

Thanks to Portland State University and the Office of Diversity and Global Inclusion for the decade-long collaboration and continued support of our memory activism!