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Oregon History: Chronology - 1902 to 1950
| 1902 | Crater Lake National Park opens |
| Congress passes Federal Reclamation Act | |
| Voters amend Constitution for Initiative and Referendum | |
| 1903 | Heppner Flood kills 225 people |
| First Voters' Pamphlet published | |
| 1904 | Direct primary law passes |
| First African-American, George Hardin, named officer in Portland Police Bureau | |
| 1905 | Lewis & Clark Centennial Exposition celebrates history |
| Klamath Irrigation Project commences | |
| Oregon land fraud trials pursue wrongdoers | |
| U.S. Forest Service begins work in national forests | |
| 1906 | City home rule law approved |
| Indictment by grand jury law approved | |
| Taxes begin on telephone, telegraph, and railroads | |
| First meeting of Association of Oregon Counties | |
| 1907 | President Theodore Roosevelt creates "Midnight Reserves" setting aside millions of acres of national forests |
| 1908 | Constitution amended for Recall provision |
| Corrupt Practices Act approved | |
| First woman, Lola Baldwin, named head of Women's Division, Portland Police | |
| 1909 | State's Central Fish Hatchery opens at Bonneville |
| Oregon Caves National Monument created | |
| Pendleton Round-Up begins | |
| Congress passes Enlarged Homestead Act | |
| 1910 | Census enumerates 672,765 residents |
| Three-fourths verdict in civil cases approved | |
| Employers' Liability Act approved | |
| 1911 | Oregon Department of Forestry created |
| Columbia Gorge River Highway construction begins | |
| Oregon Trunk Railroad completes line to Bend | |
| 1912 | Women's suffrage approved |
| Prohibition of private convict labor approved | |
| Eight-hour day on public works approved | |
| 1913 | Oregon Highway Commission established |
| Presidential preference primary law approved | |
| Gov. Oswald West declares beaches open to public | |
| 1914 | Death penalty abolished |
| Prohibition approved | |
| Eight-hour day approved for women | |
| Congress revests O & C Railroad land grant | |
| 1916 | Workmen complete Celilo Locks and Canal |
| Congress passes Stock-Raising Homestead Act | |
| 1917 | U.S. Army Spruce Production Division begins logging |
| 1918 | Influenza pandemic kills hundreds |
| Emergency Fleet Corporation contracts for ships | |
| Oregonians enlist to serve in World War I | |
| 1919 | First gasoline tax in U.S. authorized to fund highways |
| Congress revests Coos Bay Wagon Road land grant | |
| 1920 | Death penalty reinstated |
| Oregon League of Women Voters founded | |
| Census enumerates 783,389 residents | |
| 1921 | Ku Klux Klan organizes chapters |
| 1922 | First state park accepted by Oregon Highway Commission and named for Sarah Helmick |
| Compulsory School Act approved | |
| First African-American woman, Beatrice Cannady, admitted to Oregon Bar | |
| Japanese American Citizens' League founded | |
| 1923 | Alien Land Law approved |
| Prohibition of sectarian garb in schools approved | |
| Alien Business Restriction Law approved | |
| 1924 | Compulsory School Act held unconstitutional |
| Congress extends citizenship extended to American Indians | |
| Clarke-McNary Act aids federal-state forest fire protection | |
| 1925 | State parks and waysides authorized |
| League of Oregon Cities founded | |
| 1926 | Fishwheels abolished |
| Astor Column completed | |
| Exclusion of African-Americans clause removed from constitution | |
| 1929 | State Park Commission created |
| 1930 | Vale Irrigation Project begins water delivery |
| Census enumerates 953,786 residents | |
| First woman, Mary Jane Spurlin, appointed judge in Oregon to Multnomah County District Court | |
| 1933 | Tillamook Burn destroys 240,000 acres of forest |
| Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Projects Administration start projects | |
| 1934 | First grazing district under Taylor Grazing Act forms at Bonanza |
| 1935 | Congress authorizes Bonneville Dam |
| Fire destroys State Capitol | |
| 1936 | Bandon Fire destroys town and kills eleven residents |
| Workmen complete five major bridges on Highway 101 | |
| First woman, Nan Wood Honeyman, elected from Oregon to U.S. House of Representatives | |
| 1937 | President F. D. Roosevelt dedicates Timberline Lodge |
| Gas chamber built for capital punishments | |
| Oregon Shakespeare Festival forms in Ashland | |
| Congress creates Bonneville Power Administration | |
| Bankhead-Jones Act authorizes buy out of homesteaders | |
| 1938 | 544 Report for Willamette flood control approved |
| Bonneville Dam completed | |
| 1939 | Tillamook Burn destroys 190,000 acres of forest |
| State capitol completed in Salem | |
| 1940 | Census enumerates 1,089,684 residents |
| 1941 | Oregonians enlist to serve in World War II |
| 1942 | Executive Order 9066 authorizes removal of Japanese-Americans to internment camps |
| Japanese submarine shells Fort Stevens | |
| Japanese airplane firebombs Siskiyou National Forest | |
| U.S. Army builds Camp Adair and Camp Abbott | |
| U.S. Navy builds Tillamook and Tongue Point Naval Air Stations | |
| Vanport founded to house wartime workers | |
| 1945 | Six Oregonians die in explosion of Japanese incendiary balloon |
| Tillamook Burn destroys 180,000 acres of forest | |
| Alien Land Law passes to supplement to 1923 act | |
| 1946 | Portland State University (PSU) founded |
| Rural School Law encourages consolidation of districts | |
| 1947 | Plane crash kills Governor Snell, Secretary of State Farrell, and others |
| 1948 | Flood destroys Vanport in hours |
| Vollum and Murdock found Tektronix | |
| 1949 | State Department of Forestry begins replanting Tillamook Burn |
| Fair Labor Practices Commission established | |
| State Supreme Court invalidates 1923 and 1945 Alien Land acts | |
| First woman, Dorothy McCullough Lee, elected Portland mayor | |
| 1950 | Census enumerates 1,521,341 residents |