Hiram Wilbur
(1818-1916)
Marshal - April 14, 1851 to June 4, 1851
(1818-1916)
Marshal - April 14, 1851 to June 4, 1851
There is very little information on Portland’s first Town Marshal, Hiram Wilbur. He was born about 1818 in New York and was living in Yamhill County in 1849. By 1850 he lived in Portland and in the 1850 census he stated that he had no occupation. Portland was incorporated as a city in 1851 and the first municipal election was held on the first Monday in April, 1851. Hugh O’Bryant, a settler from Georgia who arrived in Portland with his brother Humphrey in 1849, was elected the new city’s first mayor. The first city council meeting was held on April 14, 1851 and their first order of business was to elect “a competent and discreet person to act as Marshal.” The election took most of the day and William Higgins was the leading candidate for the first six ballots. In a compromise Hiram Wilbur was elected Town Marshal on the seventh ballot.
Two weeks before Wilbur’s election Portland experienced its first murder when William Kean shot William Cook in front of a saloon on Front Street. At the time Portland had about 600 residents and more than three quarters of them were single men in their twenties and thirties. Rowdy drinking parties, drunken brawls and petty theft were a common occurrence and the Town Marshal was expected to keep order, along with his health officer and tax collecting duties. Law enforcement was not the first priority of the Town Marshal, since the City Council
Two weeks before Wilbur’s election Portland experienced its first murder when William Kean shot William Cook in front of a saloon on Front Street. At the time Portland had about 600 residents and more than three quarters of them were single men in their twenties and thirties. Rowdy drinking parties, drunken brawls and petty theft were a common occurrence and the Town Marshal was expected to keep order, along with his health officer and tax collecting duties. Law enforcement was not the first priority of the Town Marshal, since the City Council