Collection is open for research.
Gift of Ben Campbell Holladay, September 1960 (Lib. Acc. 9000).
Ben Holladay (1819-1887) was a financier, railroad promoter, and real estate developer who was influential in Oregon during the 1870s. He was born in Kentucky and moved to Missouri with his parents. He ran successful businesses in Weston, Missouri, and made a great deal of money selling supplies to the U.S. government during the Mexican War. Moving to California in 1852, he ran successful stage coach businesses, which he eventually sold to Wells, Fargo, for a large fortune. In 1868, he came to Oregon and began promoting railroad ventures and real estate, eventually building a rail line from Portland to Roseburg, called the Oregon and California Railroad and later the Oregon Central Railroad. But with the panic of 1873, Holladay experienced financial losses, and control of the Oregon Central Railroad passed to German bondholders, and later to Henry Villard. In his heyday, Holladay lived a lavish lifestyle and owned multiple homes, including mansions in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, California, and an elaborate villa, called Seaside House, in Clatsop County on the Oregon coast. He also used his wealth to finance a bid for the U.S. Senate, but he failed to win election.
Holladay was married twice, first to Notley Ann Calvert, who died in 1873, then to Esther Campbell in 1874. In his later years, he suffered poor health, financial losses, legal difficulties, and the deaths of his two daughters. He died in Portland in 1887 at age 68.
Ben Holladay papers, Mss 893, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Collection was processed and a collection guide created by Trudy Williams and Geoffrey Wexler in 2006. Collection guide was revised in November 2024 to resolve encoding problems and conform to current standard.
Additional collections at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library that relate to Ben Holladay include an agreement between Holladay and German shareholders represented by Henry Villard, Coll 873; Org. Lot 470, the Clatsop County, Oregon photographic collection, which includes photographs of Seaside House; and a vertical file, Genealogy - Holladay, Ben.
This collection of Ben Holladay's papers provides fragmentary documentation of his life and career. It includes letters, letterpress copybooks, court documents, genealogical materials, and a scrapbook of news clippings from 1872, primarily concerning politics. The materials relate to Holladay's personal matters; the Willamette Real Estate Company and the Oregon Real Estate Company (1870-1880); Seaside House, his home in Seaside, Oregon (1874-1876); and legal matters concerning the Oregon Central Railroad Company (1884). The letterpress copybooks include copies of letters from George Weidler, an associate of Holladay's in Portland real estate ventures, and H. Hampton, secretary of the Willamette Real Estate Company. A copybook from Seaside House includes copies of letters from Holladay's personal secretary, R. N. Fowler.
Photographs that the Oregon Historical Society Research Library received with the papers in this collection were separated and cataloged as the Ben Holladay photograph collection, Org. Lot 586. A handwritten letter to Ben Holladay from Samuel Kelley, dated July 1, 1867, was separated to the Postal Collection, Mss 1512; a photocopy was retained in this collection.
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.
Includes letters from George Weidler to Holladay & Brennan, San Francisco, 1870; and letters from H. Hampton, secretary of the Willamette Real Estate Co.