Frank Dekum
Encyclopedia
Frank Dekum was a prominent 19th century fruit merchant, banker, and real-estate investor in Portland
in the U.S. state
of Oregon
. Born in Germany
, Dekum emigrated to the north-central U.S. with his family and as a young man went west in search of gold before starting a successful fresh-fruit business in Portland.
Prospering as a merchant, Dekum invested in real-estate, banking, and an early railroad, was a president or board member of many of the city's companies, and was one of 15 men named to Portland's first municipal water committee.
Dekum involved himself in many building projects in downtown Portland. One of his structures, the Dekum Building
, which served as headquarters for the city's government in the 1890s, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1980. The Portland and Vancouver Railway, financed partly by Dekum, ran along the east side of the Willamette River
from East Portland to the Columbia River
. Dekum Street in northeast Portland is named after him.
Married to Fanny Reinig, Dekum fathered eight children. He was the president of the German Song Bird Society, which imported to Oregon many German songbird
s. After suffering great financial loss during the Panic of 1893
, he died in 1894.
, on November 5, 1829. He and his brother and four sisters emigrated to the United States to settle on a farm near Belleville, Illinois
. The family later moved to St. Louis, Missouri
, where both parents died. After serving as an apprentice confectioner
in St. Louis, Dekum and a friend, Frederick Bickel, went gold prospecting
in California
and Idaho
before settling in Portland.
In 1853, the two men established a fruit and confectionery store, Dekum & Bickel, which prospered for the next quarter-century in downtown Portland. Amassing wealth from the "largest wholesale fresh-fruit business in the Northwest", Dekum joined "the frenzied real-estate speculations of the early 1860s", and his large holdings included several buildings that bore his name. In 1875, he and Simeon Reed financed the city's most expensive building of the time; it was known as the Dekum and Reed Block.
Portland historian Joseph Gaston wrote, "It is an interesting and noteworthy fact that he was connected with the construction of every building in whole or in part between First and Third on Washington street... ". These projects included the first large brick building on Front Street, the Gadsby and Commercial blocks, the Waldo Building, and in 1892 the Dekum Building
.
The latter, at the southwest corner of Southwest Third Avenue and Washington Street, is eight stories high, was built entirely of Oregon materials, and cost $300,000 in 1892 dollars. The first three stories of the Romanesque
structure are of rough-cut sandstone; the top five floors are of red brick and unglazed terracotta with floral designs. Decorative machicolation
s (openings of the sort used in earlier eras for pouring pitch
and dropping rocks on attackers) appear in the parapet
at the top of the building. For eight years starting in 1893 Portland's government was headquartered in this structure, temporarily dubbed the Council Building. The exterior was renovated in 1987, and the interior opened to the nearby Hamilton Building
in the 1990s. The Dekum Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places
in 1980 and is part of the Skidmore/Old Town Historic District
.
. He helped organize the Commercial National Bank of Portland and served as its president. (The two banks occupied the same building and had overlapping directors, including John McCraken, George H. Williams
, and Cyrus A. Dolph
, as well as Dekum and Thompson.) He was at various times president of Columbia Investment Company, Oregon Land and Investment Company, Columbia Fire and Marine Insurance Company, Portland and Vancouver Railway Company, Trinidad Asphalt & Paving Company, and the Portland Exposition Company. In 1885, Dekum was one of 15 men named to the Portland Water Committee, empowered by the Oregon Legislative Assembly
to acquire and operate a municipal water system for the city.
and went north through the then-separate city of Albina
on the way to the Columbia River
. The south end of the steam
railway was at the east end of the Stark Street ferry between Portland and East Portland on the Willamette River
. The north end of the line was at a landing on the Columbia that served ferries traveling between Oregon and Vancouver, Washington
.
Dekum and Durham, through their Oregon Land and Development Company, invested in developing the Woodlawn
District, which was near the railroad in Albina. Most of the railway route ran initially through "virgin timber and scattered clearings", especially north of Albina, where "the country was quite primitive until the broad bottomlands of the Columbia were reached." Because the land near the river was subject to annual flooding, the northernmost 8000 feet (2,438.4 m) of the line was elevated on trestle
s. In 1892 the line was sold to the Portland Consolidated Street Railway Company, which switched to a bigger gauge to match its other tracks and began to electrify the railway for trolley
s.
at its corners, a three-bay entrance porch, segmental arched windows, and a conservatory (sun room) on the south. Fanny died in 1877.
President of the German Song Bird Society, Dekum contributed money to import German song birds, including thrush
es, starling
s, and nightingale
s, to Oregon. According to one report, the society brought a total of about 500 German birds to Oregon at various times and released many of them into the wild, mainly in Portland parks. Although birds from these early importations survived for years by some accounts, they all eventually disappeared. Dekum was also president of the German Aid Society of Portland.
, when many banks failed, Dekum's Portland Savings Bank barely survived. Portland historian E. Kimbark MacColl writes that among Portland bankers
Wells Fargo bought Dekum's other bank, Commercial National Bank of Portland, in January 1894. Dekum died on October 19 that year and was buried in Lone Fir Cemetery
in southeast Portland. Northeast Dekum Street in Portland's Woodlawn neighborhood is named after him.
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. Born in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Dekum emigrated to the north-central U.S. with his family and as a young man went west in search of gold before starting a successful fresh-fruit business in Portland.
Prospering as a merchant, Dekum invested in real-estate, banking, and an early railroad, was a president or board member of many of the city's companies, and was one of 15 men named to Portland's first municipal water committee.
Dekum involved himself in many building projects in downtown Portland. One of his structures, the Dekum Building
Dekum Building
The Dekum Building is an historic office building at SW Third Avenue and Washington Street in downtown Portland, Oregon. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980....
, which served as headquarters for the city's government in the 1890s, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1980. The Portland and Vancouver Railway, financed partly by Dekum, ran along the east side of the Willamette River
Willamette River
The Willamette River is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States...
from East Portland to the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
. Dekum Street in northeast Portland is named after him.
Married to Fanny Reinig, Dekum fathered eight children. He was the president of the German Song Bird Society, which imported to Oregon many German songbird
Songbird
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds . Another name that is sometimes seen as scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin oscen, "a songbird"...
s. After suffering great financial loss during the Panic of 1893
Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 was a serious economic depression in the United States that began in 1893. Similar to the Panic of 1873, this panic was marked by the collapse of railroad overbuilding and shaky railroad financing which set off a series of bank failures...
, he died in 1894.
Early life
Dekum was born in Deiderfeld, Rheinfalz, GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, on November 5, 1829. He and his brother and four sisters emigrated to the United States to settle on a farm near Belleville, Illinois
Belleville, Illinois
Belleville is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city has a population of 44,478. It is the eighth-most populated city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area and the most populated city south of Springfield in the state of Illinois. It is the county...
. The family later moved to St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, where both parents died. After serving as an apprentice confectioner
Confectionery
Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...
in St. Louis, Dekum and a friend, Frederick Bickel, went gold prospecting
Prospecting
Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
before settling in Portland.
From fruit to real estate
Portland historian Joseph Gaston wrote, "It is an interesting and noteworthy fact that he was connected with the construction of every building in whole or in part between First and Third on Washington street... ". These projects included the first large brick building on Front Street, the Gadsby and Commercial blocks, the Waldo Building, and in 1892 the Dekum Building
Dekum Building
The Dekum Building is an historic office building at SW Third Avenue and Washington Street in downtown Portland, Oregon. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980....
.
The latter, at the southwest corner of Southwest Third Avenue and Washington Street, is eight stories high, was built entirely of Oregon materials, and cost $300,000 in 1892 dollars. The first three stories of the Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
structure are of rough-cut sandstone; the top five floors are of red brick and unglazed terracotta with floral designs. Decorative machicolation
Machicolation
A machicolation is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones, or other objects, could be dropped on attackers at the base of a defensive wall. The design was developed in the Middle Ages when the Norman crusaders returned. A machicolated battlement...
s (openings of the sort used in earlier eras for pouring pitch
Pitch (resin)
Pitch is the name for any of a number of viscoelastic, solid polymers. Pitch can be made from petroleum products or plants. Petroleum-derived pitch is also called bitumen. Pitch produced from plants is also known as resin. Products made from plant resin are also known as rosin.Pitch was...
and dropping rocks on attackers) appear in the parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
at the top of the building. For eight years starting in 1893 Portland's government was headquartered in this structure, temporarily dubbed the Council Building. The exterior was renovated in 1987, and the interior opened to the nearby Hamilton Building
Hamilton Building
The Hamilton Building is an historic office building in downtown Portland, Oregon. It went through a renovation in 1977, and was listed on National Register of Historic Places in March of that year. It is the neighbor of the Dekum Building, a fellow NHRP listing on Third Avenue.The building,...
in the 1990s. The Dekum Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1980 and is part of the Skidmore/Old Town Historic District
Old Town Chinatown, Portland, Oregon
Old Town Chinatown is a neighborhood in the Northwest section of Portland, Oregon. The Willamette River forms its eastern boundary, separating it from the Lloyd District and the Kerns and Buckman neighborhoods...
.
Banks, companies
In 1880 Dekum helped establish the Portland Savings Bank, of which he was named president in 1886, succeeding David P. ThompsonDavid P. Thompson
David Preston Thompson was an American businessman and politician in the Pacific Northwest. He was governor of the Idaho Territory from 1875 to 1876. A native of Ohio, he immigrated to the Oregon Territory in 1853...
. He helped organize the Commercial National Bank of Portland and served as its president. (The two banks occupied the same building and had overlapping directors, including John McCraken, George H. Williams
George Henry Williams
George Henry Williams was an American judge and politician. He served as Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, was the 32nd Attorney General of the United States, and served one term in the United States Senate...
, and Cyrus A. Dolph
Cyrus A. Dolph
Cyrus Abda Dolph was a businessman in Portland, Oregon, United States. He was a promoter and counselor of various financial and railway enterprises of the Pacific Northwest of the United States....
, as well as Dekum and Thompson.) He was at various times president of Columbia Investment Company, Oregon Land and Investment Company, Columbia Fire and Marine Insurance Company, Portland and Vancouver Railway Company, Trinidad Asphalt & Paving Company, and the Portland Exposition Company. In 1885, Dekum was one of 15 men named to the Portland Water Committee, empowered by the Oregon Legislative Assembly
Oregon Legislative Assembly
The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the House of Representatives, with 60 members elected to...
to acquire and operate a municipal water system for the city.
Portland and Vancouver Railway
In 1888 Dekum, Richard L. Durham, and John B. David built a narrow gauge railway, the Portland and Vancouver Railway, that began in what was then the separate city of East PortlandEast Portland, Oregon
East Portland was a city in the U.S. state of Oregon that was consolidated into Portland in 1891. It was founded on a land claim by James B. Stephens in 1846, who bought a land claim from John McLoughlin of the Hudson's Bay Company...
and went north through the then-separate city of Albina
Albina, Oregon
Albina is a historical city which was consolidated into Portland, Oregon in 1891.Albina was laid out in 1872 with a plat for the new town filed in April 1873 by Edwin Russell, William Page, and George Williams. Albina was named after Mrs. Albina Page, the wife of William Page. Settlement began in...
on the way to the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
. The south end of the steam
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
railway was at the east end of the Stark Street ferry between Portland and East Portland on the Willamette River
Willamette River
The Willamette River is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States...
. The north end of the line was at a landing on the Columbia that served ferries traveling between Oregon and Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. Incorporated in 1857, it is the fourth largest city in the state with a 2010 census population of 161,791 as of April 1, 2010...
.
Dekum and Durham, through their Oregon Land and Development Company, invested in developing the Woodlawn
Woodlawn, Portland, Oregon
Woodlawn is a neighborhood in the Northeast section of Portland, Oregon. It borders Sunderland on the north, Concordia on the east, King and Vernon on the south, and Piedmont on the west....
District, which was near the railroad in Albina. Most of the railway route ran initially through "virgin timber and scattered clearings", especially north of Albina, where "the country was quite primitive until the broad bottomlands of the Columbia were reached." Because the land near the river was subject to annual flooding, the northernmost 8000 feet (2,438.4 m) of the line was elevated on trestle
Trestle
A trestle is a rigid frame used as a support, especially referring to a bridge composed of a number of short spans supported by such frames. In the context of trestle bridges, each supporting frame is generally referred to as a bent...
s. In 1892 the line was sold to the Portland Consolidated Street Railway Company, which switched to a bigger gauge to match its other tracks and began to electrify the railway for trolley
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
s.
Family, other interests
Dekum was married in 1859 to Fanny Reinig of St. Louis, with whom he had eight children. In Portland, they lived in a three-story house, built in about 1864, on a tract later defined by Northwest 13th and 14th avenues and Morrison and Yamhill streets, that was at the time well outside the city. The house featured staggered quoinsQuoin (architecture)
Quoins are the cornerstones of brick or stone walls. Quoins may be either structural or decorative. Architects and builders use quoins to give the impression of strength and firmness to the outline of a building...
at its corners, a three-bay entrance porch, segmental arched windows, and a conservatory (sun room) on the south. Fanny died in 1877.
President of the German Song Bird Society, Dekum contributed money to import German song birds, including thrush
Thrush (bird)
The thrushes, family Turdidae, are a group of passerine birds that occur worldwide.-Characteristics:Thrushes are plump, soft-plumaged, small to medium-sized birds, inhabiting wooded areas, and often feed on the ground or eat small fruit. The smallest thrush may be the Forest Rock-thrush, at and...
es, starling
Starling
Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The name "Sturnidae" comes from the Latin word for starling, sturnus. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, are called mynas, and many African species are known as glossy starlings because of their iridescent...
s, and nightingale
Nightingale
The Nightingale , also known as Rufous and Common Nightingale, is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae...
s, to Oregon. According to one report, the society brought a total of about 500 German birds to Oregon at various times and released many of them into the wild, mainly in Portland parks. Although birds from these early importations survived for years by some accounts, they all eventually disappeared. Dekum was also president of the German Aid Society of Portland.
Death and legacy
During the Panic of 1893Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 was a serious economic depression in the United States that began in 1893. Similar to the Panic of 1873, this panic was marked by the collapse of railroad overbuilding and shaky railroad financing which set off a series of bank failures...
, when many banks failed, Dekum's Portland Savings Bank barely survived. Portland historian E. Kimbark MacColl writes that among Portland bankers
the banker who suffered the heaviest loss was Frank Dekum, who died in 1894, partially from the strain of the depression. With David P. Thompson's help, he had managed to salvage enough out of the wreckage of the Portland Savings Bank to leave an estate of over $1 million, largely in downtown real estate; his railway holdings had collapsed. Thompson, who had been president of the savings bank from 1880 to 1886, had sold all his bank stocks before his appointment in 1891 as American Minister to Turkey. Upon his return in 1893, he was appointed receiver for the bank.
Wells Fargo bought Dekum's other bank, Commercial National Bank of Portland, in January 1894. Dekum died on October 19 that year and was buried in Lone Fir Cemetery
Lone Fir Cemetery
Lone Fir Cemetery in the southeast section of Portland, Oregon, United States is a cemetery owned and maintained by Metro, a regional government entity. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the first burial was in 1846 with the cemetery established in 1855...
in southeast Portland. Northeast Dekum Street in Portland's Woodlawn neighborhood is named after him.
Works cited
- Bureau of Planning, City of Portland (2003). Woodlawn Neighborhood Plan". Eugene, Oregon: University of Oregon. Retrieved March 1, 2010.
- Gaston, Joseph (1911). http://books.google.com/books?id=bG4UAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA308&lpg=PA308&dq=joseph+gaston+dekum&source=bl&ots=Pu2qaAOOcx&sig=v5ywePWa2fnYT_d4u_2URmZ7ieU&hl=en&ei=pBWQS_rhM5OEtAOap-DnCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CA4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=&f=falsePortland, Oregon, its history and builders: in connection with the Antecedent Explorations, Discoveries, and Movements of the Pioneers That Selected the Site for the Great City of the Pacific], vol. 2. Chicago, Illinois: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company.. Retrieved March 4, 2010.
- Hawkins, William J., III, and Willingham, William F. (1999). Classic Houses of Portland, Oregon: 1850–1950. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. ISBN 0-88192-433-4.
- King, Bart (2007). An Architectural Guidebook to Portland (2nd ed.). Corvallis: Oregon State University Press. ISBN 978-0-87071-191-6.
- Labbe, John T. (1982). Fares, Please! Those Portland Trolley Years. Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd. ISBN 0-87004-278-5.
- Lansing, Jewel (2005) [2003]. Portland: People, Politics, and Power, 1851–2001. Corvallis, Oregon: Oregon State University Press. ISBN 0-87071-559-3.
- MacColl, E. Kimbark; Stein, Harry H. (1988). Merchants, Money, and Power: The Portland Establishment 1843–1913. Portland, Oregon: The Georgian Press. ISBN 0-9603408-4-X.
- MacColl, E. Kimbark. (1976). The Shaping of a City: Business and Politics in Portland, Oregon, 1885 to 1915. Portland, Oregon: The Georgian Press. .
- Scott, Harvey Whitefield, ed. (1890). History of Portland, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Prominent Citizens and Pioneers. Syracuse, New York: D. Mason and Co., Publishers. . Retrieved March 2, 2010.
External links
- Dekum Building, Emporis Corporation
- Candy man Dekum built lasting legacy in Portland, Oregon Live, LLC