Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Coldwell, Orin B. November 28, 1875 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com May 25, 2007, 4:45 pm

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     ORIN B. COLDWELL.  The successful record of the Portland Electric Power 
Company has been based on the loyal and efficient service which it has 
received from its officers and employees, prominent among whom is Orin B. 
Coldwell, who, starting at the bottom of the ladder, has risen in the service 
with increasing responsibility to the position of vice president of the 
company, in charge of its light and power department. Mr. Coldwell was born in 
Salem, Oregon, on the 28th day of November, 1875, and is a son of the late 
Edward L. (Jerry) Coldwell and Fannie A. (Barker) Coldwell. His father came to 
Oregon, by way of the isthmus of Panama, in the early ‘70s and was first 
employed on the survey of the Oregon & California Railroad, now a part of the 
Southern Pacific system. On the completion of that work he took up his abode 
in Portland and went to work in the Walling printing house, where he learned 
the trade. Following his trade he went to Forest Grove and later to Salem, 
where he was employed in the state printing office. Two years of his residence 
there were spent on a farm. Returning to Portland in 1879, Mr. Coldwell became 
a pressman in the office of the Bulletin, and later worked for George H. 
Himes, at that time a well known printer. In 1883 he started to work for the 
Oregonian as a reporter, for which line he showed himself particularly 
adapted, and for twenty-six years he rendered a high type of service to the 
paper and the community. His death, in 1908, was deeply regretted by all who 
knew him, for he was a man of sterling character, kindly manner and with a 
sincere interest in his community and all of its people. He was one of the 
most widely known newspaper men ever in this city and he was admired and loved 
by all who knew him. Outside of his routine reportorial work, he wrote many 
special articles, all of which were interesting and some very humorous, and 
his vigorous and clear literary style made his articles well worth reading. 
His widow still resides in this city. Mr. Coldwell’s maternal grandfather, 
William Barker, was a native of Massachusetts, from which state he moved to 
Iowa, and in 1847 he crossed the plains to Oregon, taking up his residence in 
Salem. In the same train with him came his father-in-law, James Davidson. 
William Barker for many years conducted a cabinet shop on the present site of 
the Marion Hotel and there manufactured furniture from Oregon wood for the 
early timers of that vicinity.
     Orin B. Coldwell attended the public schools of Portland and in 1893, 
when eighteen years old, went to work for the Willamette Falls Electric 
Company, which concern afterward became the Portland General Electric Company, 
as an apprentice in the shop and later worked as arc lamp repairman, arc lamp 
trimmer, substation operator and in numerous other capacities, learning the 
fundamentals of the business, until the fall of 1897 when he entered Leland 
Stanford University. There he took up the study of electrical engineering, 
spending his summer vacations in working for the Portland General Electric 
Company. In 1900 Mr. Coldwell entered Cornell University, from which he was 
graduated, with the degree of Electrical Engineer, in 1902.  He at once 
returned to Portland and took up his work again with the Portland General 
Electric Company, his sojourn at college being considered merely as a leave of 
absence. In 1903 Mr. Coldwell designed the company’s substation at Broadway 
and Alder streets, and since that time has been in charge of the design and 
construction of all hydro-electric and steam generating plants of the company. 
The design of hydraulic units and the solving of the various mechanical 
problems arising in the construction, installation and operation of new power 
systems have been specialties of Mr. Coldwell and have been important factors 
in the successful operation of the company. While at home from college during 
his summer vacations, employed with the company, he served as substation 
operator and shop foreman.  Shortly after his return from college he was made 
operating superintendent, and then electrical engineer, from which position he 
was promoted to that of superintendent of the light and power department. 
Later he was made general superintendent of the light and power department, 
and, in 1920, became vice president of the Portland Electric Power Company, He 
has had a busy career and his advancement to his present position came as the 
natural result of his faithful and capable services.
     In 1905 Mr. Coldwell was united in marriage to Miss Anna B. Harmar, of 
Portland, and they are the parents of three children, Ruth E., William L., and 
Frances M., the two last named being pupils in the Lincoln high school. The 
republican party claims Mr. Coldwell’s support and he is interested in public 
affairs, though his duties preclude his taking a very active part therein. He 
is a Scottish Rite Mason and belongs to the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, the 
Arlington Club and Multnomah Amateur Athletic Club, and is a Fellow of the 
American Institute of Electrical Engineers, of which he is a past vice 
president of the Pacific coast division. He is president of the Rose Festival 
for 1928 and, judging by his past record in everything else in which he has 
been interested, he will make it a great success. Loyal to every principle and 
cause which he espouses and constant and true in his friendships, Mr. Coldwell 
is held in high esteem by a people who have long since recognized his sterling 
worth and his high citizenship.


Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Pages 315-316

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