University Club (Portland, Oregon)
University Club of Portland | |
Portland Historic Landmark[2] | |
![]() The University Club of Portland building in 2009 | |
Location | 1225 SW 6th Avenue Portland, Oregon |
---|---|
Coordinates | 45°30′55″N 122°40′52″W / 45.515357°N 122.680993°W |
Built | 1913 |
Architect | Whitehouse & Fouilhoux |
Architectural style | Tudor Revival, Jacobethan Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 79002144[1] |
Added to NRHP | July 26, 1979 |
The University Club of Portland is a private social club that was established in 1898 located in downtown Portland, Oregon. It is known as "Portland's Premier Private Social Club". The Clubhouse was built in 1913 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[3]
About
The idea of organizing a university club in Portland had been initially discussed during a meeting of Yale alumni in a waterfront tavern in December 1897. The University Club of Portland was formally organized six months later on May 2, 1898 at a gathering in the office of prominent architect and MIT graduate William M. Whidden, who was immediately elected the Club’s first President. Also elected to the first board were L. Allen Lewis of Princeton, Ralph Bisbee from Harvard, and William L. Brewster a graduate of Amherst.
The Charter of Organization was signed by 56 alumni, representing 26 American colleges and universities, including the U.S. Military and Naval Academies, and one representative from the University of Toronto.
Graduates of eastern colleges made up the majority of the Charter signers including 11 from Yale, six from Amherst, five each from Harvard and the University of Virginia and four from MIT. The representatives from the western institutions, then in comparative infancy, included two from the University of California, and one each from the University of Oregon, Pacific University, the University of Utah, and Stanford.
The first annual meeting of the Club was held in the office of the Multnomah County Republican Club on October 8, 1898. After an evening of food and drink the Initiation fee was set with dues of $1.00 per month.
On April 10, 1900, an unfurnished room was leased on the second floor of a building at the north corner of Sixth and Alder Streets.
In November 1900, the fourth floor of the building belonging to the Failing Estate at Third Avenue and Washington Streets was leased for the Club rooms. During this, Club activities consisted of luncheons and gatherings at the cocktail hour, along with frequent appearances by famous local musicians and entertainers. When the members wished to have dinner, they went to Quells restaurant at Fourth and Alder for a thick T-Bone steak which cost the princely sum of $.75 cents.
The University Club of Portland was eventually incorporated on June 24, 1901 and after a few temporary homes over the next decade, the present site of the Club was purchased in 1912. During this period the beginnings of a Club library emerged and the concerted effort towards establishing an intellectual sanctuary was evident. Finally, the present day building was completed in 1913 for a reasonable $130,000 and the Club found its permanent home.
The Club has come a long way in its 100+ years of existence. Over the past century the Club has weathered a Great Depression, a devastating Recession, and five major wars, but there has always been the spirit and the will among officers and members to carry on the best of the Club's traditions. Alterations and improvements in structure and furnishings have kept pace with the needs of a growing and changing membership. The third and fourth floors, once sleeping rooms are now private dining rooms, offices and storage, and it is rumored that two or three ghosts walk the halls at night.
Originally an all-male Club with the occasional event where ladies were included, the University Club became an all-inclusive Club in 1990, voting in the first woman member in January of that year.
In 2017, the University Club voted in its first female president, Elizabeth Schleuning[4].
University Club of Portland Presidents
- 1897-1898 William M. Whidden
- 1900 William L. Brewster
- 1900 T.A.W. Shock
- 1900 Ernest F. Tucker
- 1901 John K. Kollock
- 1902 Robert Treat Platt
- 1903 John D. Carson
- 1904 Harrison G. Platt
- 1905 William L. Brewster
- 1906 Henry F. Conner
- 1907 John K. Kollock
- 1908 Hugh H. Herdman
- 1909 Benjamin B. Beekman
- 1910 Frederick H. Strong
- 1911-1913 James B. Kerr
- 1914-1915 Rufus A. Leiter
- 1916-1917 Robert Treat Platt
- 1918 Homer C. Campbell
- 1919-1920 Robert H. Crozier
- 1921-1922 Aubrey R. Watzek
- 1923 Dr. J.G. Strohm
- 1924 Estes Snedecor
- 1925 Harry B. Beckett
- 1926 R.W. Montague
- 1927 Dr. Calvin S. White
- 1928 Dr. E.J. Labbe
- 1929 Henry W. Aldrich
- 1930 Frederick Greenwood
- 1931 Dr. Herbert S. Nichols
- 1932-1934 Robert Treat Platt
- 1935-1936 John L. Day Jr.
- 1937-1939 Willis K. Clark
- 1940 George K. Voss
- 1941-1942 Colin Livingstone
- 1943-1944 Mason L. Bingham
- 1945-1947 E.T. Sturgeon
- 1948-1949 Rey B. Early
- 1950 D.V. Jennings
- 1951 Leroy D. Draper
- 1952 George Sheahan
- 1953 George W. Mead
- 1954 Wade Newbegin
- 1955 Ralph E. Williams
- 1956 Lester W. Humphreys
- 1957 Ralph Neu
- 1958 C. Laird McKenna
- 1959 Lawrence S. Shaw
- 1960 Charles H. Carter
- 1961 Lofton L. Tatum
- 1962 James W. Bayless
- 1963 Carvel C. Linden
- 1964 Samuel H. Martin
- 1965 C. Edwin Francis
- 1966 Eric Hoffman
- 1967 Alan Green Jr.
- 1968 M.H. Hartwell Jr.
- 1969 John N. Matschek
- 1970 C. Henry Labbe
- 1971 Kenneth E. Roberts
- 1972 E.C. Sammons Jr.
- 1973 Ted Gamble Jr.
- 1974 John Blake Hering
- 1975 John R. Sabin
- 1976 Harry E. Mangan
- 1977 Roland F. Banks Jr.
- 1978 Charles R. Boyle Jr.
- 1979 R.H. Atkinson Jr.
- 1980 Richard G. DeDonato
- 1981 John D. Nichols
- 1982 Frederic C. Delbrueck
- 1983 Robert M. Fletcher
- 1984 Elon E. Ellis
- 1985 William R. Galbraith
- 1986 Sam D. Gillette
- 1987 Thomas McIntyre Triplett
- 1988 James G. Robbins Jr.
- 1989 Ward V. Cook
- 1990 Rockne Gill
- 1991 Robert N. Ashley
- 1992 Claris C. Poppert
- 1993 Tyrell B. Vance
- 1994 Harold O. Brevig
- 1995 Stephen K. Foster
- 1996 Stephen D. Wasserberger
- 1997 Grant E. Stebner
- 1998 Jeffrey W. Montee
- 1999 Andrew J. Gerlicher
- 2000 O. Meredith Wilson
- 2001 Mark A. Watson
- 2002 Kirk Johansen
- 2003 John B. Rudi
- 2004 Douglas B. Pugh
- 2005 Peter P. Potwin
- 2006 Richard J. Whittemore
- 2007 P. Stephen Russell III
- 2008 Sam K. Briggs
- 2009 Ellsworth P. Ingraham
- 2010 Randall O. Young
- 2011 Dr. Christopher S. Thoming
- 2012 Kurt R. Hutton
- 2013 Ravi Vedanayagam
- 2014 Michael McCaslin
- 2015 Brad Bleything
- 2016 Lex F. Page
- 2017 Elizabeth Schleuning
- 2018 David Christian
See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Southwest Portland, Oregon
- List of traditional gentlemen's clubs in the United States
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ Portland Historic Landmarks Commission (July 2010), Historic Landmarks -- Portland, Oregon (XLS), retrieved November 13, 2013.
- ^ "Oregon National Register List" (PDF). Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. June 6, 2011. p. 41. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
- ^ "Breaking the glass ceiling: Meet the University Club's new president". www.bizjournals.com. American City Business Journals. December 9, 2016. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
External links
Media related to University Club (Portland, Oregon) at Wikimedia Commons