What is today called The Northwest District of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod was first organized as the California and Oregon District in 1887.

In 1899, a reorganization led to the formation of the Oregon and Washington District (including Idaho), and, effective 1 January 1949, the name was changed to The Northwest District of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

The District was first administered by a District President, a Treasurer, and separate boards, including a Mission Board, a Board of Trustees, a Board for Church Extension (formed in 1910), and a School Board. Extant records of the various boards are detailed in the following pages in Series I. The Mission Board was the most important and most active group as reflected in the quantity of their minutes.

A proposal to the 1927 general synod convention to divide the district into the Oregon District and the Washington District was not acted upon until 1930 when the synodical convention referred the matter to the congregations. Considerable discussion followed. The proposal eventually failed, and the district remained intact (see Series I, Folder 35 for details).

The delegates to the June, 1942, convention of the Oregon-Washington District approved the formation of a Board of Directors, made up of six pastors, one teacher, and five laymen. Along with a chairman and a secretary, the board was to have five standing committees: Mission Committee, Committee on Stewardship and Finance, Church Extension Committee, Committee on Christian Education, and a Committee on Student Support and Young People's Work. The District President and the District Treasurer were to be ex officio members of the Board of Directors. After the Board of Directors organization was approved and members elected at the district convention, the first organizational meeting of the new board was held June 30, 1942.

The office of Executive Secretary was created in June, 1943, to work full-time under the Board of Directors. The office was filled by Rev. William H. Hillmer who served until 1949 when he was succeeded by Rev. Amos Schmidt. The Executive Secretary was an advisory member of the Board and served as recording secretary. At the same time, the District established a central District business office in downtown Portland.

According to Archivist Carl Nitz, in a memo dated October 30, 1975,

“Fortunately, much of our holdings from the earlier days of the District come from the files of the original Ehrw. Missions-Kommission – which were preserved in a safe which was located in the basement of Zion church, the mother church of Missouri Synod Lutheranism in Portland. -- A very natural arrangement, since the meetings of the Mission Board were held there for many years.

“The period between the days of the Mission Board and the organization of the Board of Directors suffers from a lack of similar materials, probably because no central depository was available.”

In response to a mandate from Resolution 3-04 of the 1994 District convention, a Task Force on District Structure and Staffing began a two-year process of study and planning for a restructuring of District operations. Subsequently, the Board of Directors, in March 1996, approved the recommendations of the Task Force that the Board change from the role of managing to the role of leading, and that the Board abolish District committees in favor of ad hoc task forces.