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Portland Hotel Company records

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 745

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of records of the Portland Hotel and the company that built and owned it. Records include articles of incorporation and board of directors' minutes, 1888-1926; a stock ledger, 1891-1943; stock subscribers' assessments, 1889-1931; a stock dividend book, 1904-1940; a brochure, circa 1895; stationery; and a hotel register with entries for April-June, 1890.

Dates

  • Creation: 1888-1943

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.

Administrative history

The Portland Hotel, in Portland, Oregon, began in 1883 as a project of railroad magnate Henry Villard. After Villard's financial failure, construction on the hotel came to a halt in 1884. It sat incomplete until 1888, when a group of Portland investors took over the project, and the hotel finally opened in 1890. For a time, it was the largest and most elegant hotel in the city, but by the 1940s, the hotel was struggling. In 1944, Meier & Frank purchased the building, and it was demolished and replaced with a parking lot in 1951. In the 1980s, the site of the former hotel became Pioneer Courthouse Square.

Source: "Portland Hotel" by Leland Roth, Oregon Encyclopedia, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/portland_hotel/

Extent

1 Cubic Feet (2 document cases, 1 volume in custom box)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Records of the company that built and owned the Portland Hotel in Portland, Oregon. The hotel operated from 1890 to the 1940s and was, for a time, the city's grandest. The collection includes minutes of board meetings, stock records, articles of incorporation, a color brochure from the 1890s, and a hotel register from 1890.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift, in part, of Jack L. Meier, March 1978 (Lib. Acc. 14417).

Processing Information

Collection includes materials that were previously designated Mss 745-1 and Mss 745-2.

Title
Guide to the Portland Hotel Company records
Status
Completed
Date
2006; revised 2024
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid is written in English.

Revision Statements

  • 2024-04-12: Revised to provide additional detail and sourcing in historical note, condense description, and conform to current standard.

Repository Details

Part of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library Repository

Contact:
1200 SW Park Ave.
Portland OR 97205 United States
5033065204
5033065240