Our History
We are the longest running chapter in the Evergreen District. According to our District historian, the very first chapter in our area was the Seattle Star – KIRO chapter founded in 1940, but it disbanded with the beginning of World War II.
After the war, in 1946 and 1947, six chapters were formed in the Northwest. Portland was the second of those six to be chartered, and that was on the date of July 14th, 1946. The Port Angeles chapter was chartered the month before, but would fold after about 5 years.
In November 1947 at the old Portland Hotel, which is now Pioneer Square, these six chapters broke off from the Far West District to form the Northwest District which was later renamed the Evergreen District.
The original name of our chapter chorus was The Sunset Chorus. A “sunset chorus” is the singing of frogs and birds around sunset, the opposite end of the day from the “dawn chorus.” For reasons not explained in any existing material, the chorus changed it’s name in the late 70’s to “The Rose City Close Harmony Music Men” or RC2H2M2. Presumably the humor was similar to that of OC Cash when he called our Society SPEBSQSA.
The Portland Chapter merged with the Mt. Hood Timberliners to become the Rose City Timberliners in 1996.
We have seen a lot of changes over the years. If you have any history to add, please write us.
If you have anything to contribute to our history page, please contact us.