West Linn, Oregon

West Linn is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. A southern suburb within the Portland metropolitan area, West Linn developed on the site of the former Linn City, which was named after U.S. Senator Lewis F. Linn of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, who had advocated the American occupation of the Oregon territory as a counterclaim to the British.

The Sullivan hydroelectric plant opened in 1889, and harvested energy from nearby Willamette Falls. The adjacent Willamette Falls Pulp and Paper Company began operations the same year.

As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 27,373.

Prior to settlement by Oregon pioneers, the area which became known as West Linn was the home of ancestors of some of the present-day Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon.

Major Robert Moore was an early settler who arrived in 1839—before the Champoeg Meetings—having been the senior member of the first attempt to create an American state in Oregon, the Peoria Party. After journeying around the Willamette Valley and Columbia Basin, Moore bought title to approx. 1,000 acres (400 ha) on the west side of Willamette Falls, across the Willamette River from Oregon City, from Native American Chief Wanaxha of the Wallamut Tribe, on which he platted a town he called "Robin's Nest" in early 1843. He also filed a provisional claim with the then government of the Oregon Country, not knowing if his transaction would be honored by the eventual governing laws. The Oregon Territorial Legislature voted to rename it Linn City on December 22, 1845, as a memorial to Senator Lewis F. Linn after whom Linn County is also named. Linn was a neighbor and family friend of the Moores from their time as settlers in the early Missouri Territory.

For many years Linn City was a political and commercial rival to the adjacent town of Oregon City,^{[citation needed]} but it suffered a series of natural and man-made setbacks. A major fire and the Great Flood of 1862 put a halt to the pioneer settlement in 1861, dispersing many of the surviving family members throughout the Pacific Northwest.

The Willamette Falls Locks and canal were completed in 1873, making the waterfall passable by river traffic. The locks closed in 2011 with no plans to reopen.

The Willamette Falls Pulp and Paper Company began operation in 1889.