Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Bergmann, Theodore June 13, 1856 - 
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Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com June 9, 2007, 12:09 pm

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     THEODORE BERGMANN.  An energetic nature and a progressive spirit, guided 
and controlled by sound judgment, are the qualities which have shaped the 
career of Theodore Bergmann, who has long occupied an enviable position in 
business circles of Portland as a manufacturer of high-grade shoes. A native 
of Germany, he was born near Leipzig, June 13, 1856, and was there reared and 
educated. When fourteen years old he began to learn the shoemaker’s trade, 
serving three and a half years’ apprenticeship, receiving no wages but his 
board.  In 1881 when a young man of twenty-five, he followed the example of 
many of his fellow countrymen and sailed for the United States. The west made 
a strong appeal to him, and he first went to St. Louis, Missouri, where he 
worked at his trade. It was through William Fullum, who was the first custom 
shoemaker in Portland, that he came to his city, arriving in 1887, after which 
he worked for Mr. Fullum for six years. He afterward ventured in business for 
himself, starting on a small scale. He decided to specialize in boots and 
shoes for lumber jacks and resolved that a cheap or inferior piece of work 
should never leave his establishment. Throughout his career he has closely 
adhered to that decision, making the name Bergmann synonymous with high 
quality in footwear, and the purchasers of his boots and shoes receive full 
value for their money.
     The following description of the industry appeared in the Oregon 
Journal: “If he would consult his own best interests every man and boy in 
Oregon, and especially Portland, would clothe his feet in Bergmann shoes. If 
every male citizen did this the fifty-five employes of that worthy 
manufacturing company would be increased to three or four hundred and labor 
would be that much the gainer, while Portland would also profit materially, 
for it is well understood that payrolls make the city.
     “This is a Portland factory that will not make a low-grade article. It 
manufactures only men’s and boys’ footwear and it guarantees every pair of 
shoes that leaves the place. It buys only the highest grades of leather and 
this is no idle assertion. It must qualify as the best that can be produced or 
it is not good enough for Mr. Bergmann.
     “Said Charles E. Cassel, secretary and treasurer, ‘This factory was 
established in 1903 and incorporated in 1904. Theodore Bergmann, the founder, 
is still its active manager and president of the corporation. Mr. Bergmann is 
a practical shoe man. It has been his life’s business. And he is of that class 
which believes there is no satisfaction or profit in producing an 
unsatisfactory article merely because it can be done at less expense and sold 
at a lower price. He is one who could not endure criticism of his goods. He 
would be greatly tormented if a wearer would complain of the quality of his 
footwear, hence will not give anyone an opportunity to justly do so, and as a 
consequence we have no fault-finders. Mr. Bergmann’s motto is that there shall 
not be a better quality of leather used nor a more substantially constructed 
shoe in the world, hence our customers stay with us year in and year out and 
no one can get them away. To Mr. Bergmann’s mind there is solid comfort in 
this reflection. He delights to satisfy but never could endure the thought of 
sending out what might be denominated as a “slick looker” but a sham and fraud 
as to its satisfying qualities. A poor piece of leather or an indifferent 
worker would have short shrift in this place. Reputation and character are 
everything in the conduct of the factory. They are priceless jewels not to be 
parted with and though adherence to this method of transacting business may 
now and then mean a little slower pace, it insures a surer foothold.
     “‘Being on the ground, as it were, we are cognizant of the wants of the 
men in the mills and woods, therefore qualified to more satisfactorily supply 
them than are those distant factories compelled to guess. Again, we have a 
reputation among woodmen which gives us another advantage. They know the 
quality of our shoes. They know there is no “bunk” about them. Those visiting 
Portland may come direct to the factory, if they choose. If they have a few 
minutes to spare they can see them made—handle the leather and watch the 
workmen put them together. And more, they can inspect our stock, as you have 
done, and see for themselves that we use leather without a flaw, and as good, 
even where covered and out of sight, as that on the outside.
     “‘We make no cheap grades of footwear. Ours are the endurable kind, both 
as to stock and workmanship. In the end, however, they are cheapest to buy. It 
would cost the same to make a shabby pair of shoes or to make them of poor 
stock which would be short-lived, as to build the kind we do. These are the 
most expensive at the beginning but by far the least costly in the end. They 
are the wear-well kind, shedding water in the rainy season and giving comfort 
to the wearer at all times.’”
     Mr. Bergmann is practically the only large manufacturer in Oregon. In 
1915, at the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco, California, he 
received the gold medal in competition with the world’s makers of the best 
made boots and shoes—an honor not only for Mr. Bergmann but for the state of 
Oregon as well. The firm makes a fine line of sportsmen’s boots, for which 
there is a large demand, and all goods are union made. Its employes are 
treated with justice and consideration and labor troubles have thus been 
avoided. The house is represented on the road by six traveling salesmen who 
make all the towns of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, California, Colorado 
and Nevada, also visiting several of the eastern states and calling on the 
retail trade in Alaska. Each year has chronicled a marked increase in the 
volume of sales and the business for 1927 has been exceptionally good. Having 
outgrown its old quarters, the firm erected a substantial building in 1922 on 
a lot one hundred by two hundred feet, at 395 North Twenty-eighth street, and 
has one of the most modern plants of the kind in the United States. 
This “daylight” factory is a one-story structure sixty-five by two hundred 
feet in dimensions and affords ideal working conditions. The business is 
conducted under the style of the Theo. Bergmann Shoe Manufacturing Company, of 
which the founder is president and manager. The other officers are William 
Bergmann, vice president; and Charles E. Cassel, secretary and treasurer. 
Their associates on the board of directors are Edward Bergmann and Adam Grohs. 
     In 1876 Theodore Bergmann married Miss Margaret Klingermeier, also a 
native of Germany, and to their union were born nine children, seven of whom 
survive. Six of their sons and daughters are married and live in Portland. Mr. 
Bergmann is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and several other civic 
organizations. Although he has neither sought nor held public office, he has 
nevertheless rendered to Portland service of marked value through the creation 
of an industry which has broadened the trade relations of the city and 
contributed toward its prosperity. Modest and unassuming, his life has been 
one of quiet devotion to duty but his good traits are known to and appreciated 
by the citizens of Portland, who speak of him in terms of admiration and 
respect.


Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, 
Pages 363-365

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