Bordered by the Willamette and Molalla Rivers, Canby was once a meeting place for tribes of local Indians and was well known for its annual crop of wild strawberries. At that time the area known as Baker Prairie was an open expanse of ground in the dense fir forest that stretched for miles.
A pioneer named Baker, one of the earliest white settlers in Oregon, arrived in the area in 1832 with a cattle drive from California, took an Indian wife and was soon farming, in the area that would become known as Canby. Another pioneer family, Philander and Anna Lee, began farming in 1848, beside a spring-fed creek on what is now SE First Avenue. Lee grew apples on 80 acres of land and shipped them to the gold miners in California. In 1850, the Lees gained title to 647 acres through the Donation Land Claim Act. Pioneer Joseph Knight and his four sons moved to Baker Prairie in 1868 and were a big part of Canby's early growth as they built one of the first general stores, many local buildings, served as postmaster, school clerk, sheriff, druggist, blacksmith, carpenter and more. William Knight's 1874 home still stands at 525 SW Fourth Avenue. The 1890 Knight Building on NW First Avenue was the original meeting place of City Council and first home of Carlton & Rosenkrans, "Clackamas County's largest department store."
The City's plat was filed in Oregon City on August 9, 1870 and a week later, Major General Edward R.S. Canby, hero of the Civil and Indian Wars, arrived in Oregon to assume command of the U.S. Army's Department of the Columbia and the new town was named in his honor. Railroad tracks were laid in 1870, and the depot was built in 1873 near what is now NW First and Grant. Albert H. Lee, Philander's son, was the first railroad agent.
Canby was incorporated on February 15, 1893, making it the second oldest city in Clackamas County. Heman A. Lee, Philander's second son, served as the first mayor. Agriculture was the main commodity, and included grain, hay, potatoes, dairy products, turkeys, flax, prunes, rhubarb, asparagus, berries, nuts, livestock, lumber, bulbs, flowers, and nursery stock.
(adapted from (
visit link) By Peggy Sigler and Myra Weston.)