McMenamins and Friends of Historic Grove present History Pub
The Portland Zoo Railroad: The Biggest Little Railway in the Country
Presented by Melissa Darby
Wednesday, August 13, 2025
McMenamins Grand Lodge Theater
7pm/doors 6pm
$5
All ages welcome
The Portland Zoo Railway was founded in 1958 in the West Hills of Portland, one year before the opening of the new Portland Zoo. Its flagship, the streamlined, Space Age-styled Zooliner made its debut on June 5, 1958, and carried over 2,500 riders that day. This was a year before the opening, and the fares collected over the season, as planned, were used to fund and build the zoo. By the end of the summer, the Zooliner had carried 200,000 passengers. The magnificence of the Zooliner rolling down the track with flags flying, symbolized the optimism and growth of the post-war era. A year later, the steam-powered Oregon Locomotive No. 1 was added to the rolling stock. Historian Melissa Darby will trace the history of the railroad, including some famous passengers.
Melissa Darby is an award-winning scholar, author, and archaeologist and is on the research faculty in the Department of Anthropology at Portland State University. Darby has worked for over forty years in the Northwest and is the principal investigator at Lower Columbia Research & Archaeology, LLC.
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