Portlanders in the early 1920s quickly took to the ease of going to one place for all of their doctors’ appointments, regardless of the medical specialty required, and the term “clinic” came into common use. What to call the clinic, however, was a little more complicated.

The original name, “Jones, Joyce, Selling and Kistner,” was a mouthful, so it wasn’t long before patients developed their own shorthand. Patients of Dr. Joyce soon began referring to it simply as the “Joyce Clinic.” Others referred to it as the “Selling Clinic,” the “Jones Clinic” or the “Kistner Clinic,” depending on which doctor provided their care.

After seven years of this, the clinic’s founders decided it was time to simplify matters. Since theirs was the first and only multi-specialty clinic in Portland, they laid claim to a name that was uniquely and memorably theirs, and in 1928, they registered, simply, as “The Portland Clinic.” This name, at last, would stand the test of time.