The village was laid out in 1831.[3] Its location directly on the Missouri River made it a popular shipping point for the farms and plantations of Callaway County. The name Portland stems from that activity.[4]
^McMillen, Margot Ford (1994). Paris, Tightwad and Peculiar: Missouri Place Names. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press. p. 41. ISBN0-8262-0972-6.