1 Six interesting things that started in Oregon
What do you know about Oregon? Many people think of nature. They think of Mount Hood or Crater Lake. They think of the coast, the forests, and the desert. But Oregon is famous for other things, too. Here are six interesting things from Oregon.
Plywood – 1905: Visitors to an international fair in Portland saw this new kind of wood first.
Phillips Head Screw – 1932: Car makers needed stronger screws.
Marionberries – 1945: Scientists used two kinds of blackberries to make a new berry.
Tater Tots – 1954: A french fry failure made a new frozen food.
Track Shoe – 1970: A waffle iron made the bottom of the new shoe from Nike.
Wiki Web pages – 1995: Many people can now write one web page together.
-This story was first published in ESOL News Oregon November 1, 2020.
Check
Discuss
- Have you ever eaten tater tots?
- Look at the bottom of your shoe. Does it look like the picture in the article? Why is it called waffle? Look up a picture of a waffle you can eat. (Don’t eat your shoe!)
- Plywood and screws both come from Oregon. What can you build with these things?
- Marionberries are special berries from Oregon. What other berries do you know? What is your favorite?
Write
- Do you know Wikipedia? Many people work together to create this online encyclopedia. Work together with your classmates to write your own Wikipedia entry on the topic of your choice.
- Plywood was introduced at the Portland world’s fair. Do some research about a world’s fair in a different city. When did it happen? Where? What was it like?
- Nike invented the running shoe. What else does it make?
- Someone made a mistake with French fries. Now we have tater tots. What other food mistakes can you think of? Explain. If you can’t think of any, can you use your imagination?
Sources
Arbeiter, M. “15 Things You Might Not Know About Oregon.” Www.Mentalfloss.Com, 6 Oct. 2014, www.mentalfloss.com/article/59178/15-things-you-might-not-know-about-oregon. Accessed 1 Nov. 2020.
Ashby, Ryan. “9 Everyday Things That Were Invented in Oregon.” Portland Monthly, 16 Oct. 2019, www.pdxmonthly.com/news-and-city-life/2019/10/9-everyday-things-that-were-invented-in-oregon. Accessed 2 Nov. 2020.
Metcalf, Tessa. “Some People Don’t Know These 10 Things Came From Oregon.” OnlyInYourState, 6 Jan. 2016, www.onlyinyourstate.com/oregon/oregon-inventions/. Accessed 2 Nov. 2020.
Williams, Kale. “32 Pacific Northwest Inventions That Rocked the World.” Oregonlive, 27 Feb. 2017, www.oregonlive.com/trending/2017/02/oregon_vs_washington_who_has_t.html. Accessed 2 Nov. 2020.
Images:
- Bystander, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
- Ssawka at Polish Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons
- Foodista, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
- Major Small, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
- Kazuhiro Keino, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
- Adam Beasley, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
