Collection is open for research.
Charles E. Smith (1839-1912) was born in Switzerland and came to Portland, Oregon, in 1863, where he established the Smith Brothers Iron Works with his brother Ferdinand. He married Hedwig Hansen in Hamburg, Germany (1851-1940). They had seven children: Alfred, Walter, Percy, Stanley, Herman, Elsa and Helen. The Smiths were industrialists and prominent businesspeople and founded the Congress Hotel. In the 1880s, Charles E. Smith and Hedwig Smith hired architect Justus F. Krumbein to design a home for them on land between SW 2nd Avenue, SW Hooker Street, and SW Woods Street. The house later served for a time as the Multnomah County Hospital; after the hospital moved, the house was demolished and the site became Lair Hill Park.
Charles Emil Smith family photographic collection, Org. Lot 627, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Fifteen black and white photographs, circa 1863-1912, of Charles Emil Smith, Hedwig Smith, and family; family events; and the interior and exterior of the Smith house on the site of what is now Lair Hill Park in Portland, Oregon, between SW 2nd Avenue, SW Hooker Street, and SW Woods Street.
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