After a year of review, Multnomah County officials renamed the Sauvie Island Bridge in honor of the Indigenous communities, past and present, that have a connection to the island.
The landmark is now the “Wapato Bridge” after a unanimous decision from the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners Thursday.
“The Multnomah County Commission voted to rename the Sauvie Island Bridge to honor the Indigenous people and reflect the important, but all too often hidden, rich history of our region,” Multnomah County Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson said in a county meeting.
The name, which comes from an edible tuber collected by Native Americans on Sauvie Island, was chosen by a committee of tribal and Indigenous community members, officials said.
Commissioners passed a resolution to change the name last November, stating that they wanted to raise awareness about the Indigenous history of the area.
Before it was colonized in the 1800s, Sauvie Island was inhabited by the Multnomah tribe of the Chinook people, with 2,000 Indigenous people living across 15 villages, according to the county’s resolution. The island’s Indigenous population was ravaged by disease and violence after the establishment of Fort Vancouver in 1825, according to research from the National Park Service.
The island and the bridge that connects it to U.S. 30 were named after French Canadian dairy farmer Laurent Sauvé, who worked on the island in the 1830s and ‘40s, according to the National Park Service.
In a video produced by the county, members of the bridge renaming committee said the new moniker was a step in the right direction in recognizing the Indigenous community’s displacement from the island.
“I think it’s a significant reminder that Indigenous people are still here,” Corinne Sams, a member of the renaming committee, said in the video.
– Austin De Dios; adedios@oregonian.com; @austindedios; 503-319-9744
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