Portland, CO

Portland is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Fremont County, east of Florence along State Highway 120. At about 5,043 feet, it sits in the dry foothill country between the Arkansas River towns and the county's open ranch and industrial corridors. Portland was one of three factory communities built around the Portland Cement plant; the other nearby company towns were Concrete and Cement. The name came from the Portland cement made there, giving this small place an unusually direct connection between industry and map.

A post office operated in Portland from 1900 until 1952, when the company-town network was already changing. Today the highway ties the settlement to Florence, Penrose, and Cañon City for schools, shopping, county services, and work, while the surrounding hills and old industrial landscape remain the strongest local features. Fremont County's wider history includes coal, oil, ranching, the Arkansas River, and Royal Gorge country, but Portland's particular story is cement. It is a Colorado community whose name preserves a factory era along a road east of Florence.