Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Dammeier, George H. March 31, 1866 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com May 19, 2009, 11:48 am Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company GEORGE H. DAMMEIER. Probably no resident of the Columbia River valley has done more in a practical way to raise the standard of dairy cattle in this section of the country than has George H Dammeier, of Portland, owner of Lion farm, which is known throughout the Pacific region for its splendid pure bred Jersey cattle. Mr. Dammeier is a business man of wide experience and in his present enterprise has exercised the same clear-headed judgment which gained for him success in other lines of effort, so that he has well merited the prosperity which is now his. He was born in Wayne, Cook county, Illinois, on the 31st of March, 1866, and is a son of Henry and Augusta (Leicheld) Dammeier. His father was a farmer and in the later '70s moved to Minnesota, where he and his wife died. George H. Dammeier secured his education in the public schools and at the age of fourteen years started to earn his own livelihood by going to work as a milk delivery boy in Elgin, Illinois. He later clerked in stores, and in 1887, about the time he attained his majority, he came to Portland, Oregon. For one year he worked for Cone & Davis, merchants, and in 1888 engaged in the real estate business, specializing in the building of homes, which he sold on the installment plan. This proved a successful venture and within a few years he had built and sold four hundred and thirty-eight homes, on which he realized a handsome profit. About 1908 he quit building homes and has since confined his real estate activities largely to leasing, buying and selling down-town business properties. He has a long-term lease on the Raleigh building, at the corner of Sixth and Washington streets, has a ninety-nine-year lease on the Russell building, on Morrison street, between Fourth and Fifth streets, and other good business properties, which he subleases to tenants. He built the Dammeier & Markson block and in 1897 erected the Benson building, at Fifth and Morrison streets, said to have been the best structure for its cost ever put up in this city and which is now torn down to make room for the new Kress building. He has also been interested in other valuable properties in the business district of Portland, in the handling of which he has met with very gratifying success. In 1902 Mr. Dammeier bought eighteen acres of land near Gresham, thirteen miles east of Portland, and there erected a set of farm buildings, expecting to make it his permanent home. He bought a Jersey cow for sixty-five dollars, which he at that time thought was a high price. Later he bought a couple more cows, from which he sold milk sufficient to show a reasonable profit. Thus encouraged, he added to his herd cows of various breeds and built up a very profitable dairy business. After about four years along that line, he decided to secure a herd of pure bred cattle and decided on the Jersey breed, because Jersey milk was always in demand and because Jerseys were the easiest to obtain at that time. He bought cattle of various strains, in Oregon and Washington, and the offspring of these he sold readily at from forty to sixty dollars, males and females, later raising the price to seventy-five to one hundred and twenty-five dollars a head. The result of his experiences at that time showed him that the better his herd the more profitable would be his operations, so from that time he spared no effort to secure better stock, eventually buying two Jersey cows at Shelbyville, Kentucky, three hundred and fifty dollars for one and four hundred and sixty-five dollars for the other. He sold many offspring from these two cows and finally sold the two cows at five hundred dollars each. Mr. Dammeier exhibited one of these cows, which was made grand champion at the Oregon State Fair, and the other cow, several years after he sold her, was made the grand champion at the Pacific International Exposition. Mr. Dammeier now made up his mind to have nothing but good imported Jerseys, and, after selling off all of his stock, imported and domestic, on July 1, 1926, received sixty Jersey cows that had traveled the seven-thousand-mile journey from the Jersey channel island, England, comprising one of the finest herds of pure bred cattle ever owned in this part of the country. On August 23d of that year Mr. Dammeier held an auction sale of imported registered Jerseys at his Lion farm, which attracted wide attention and was attended by nearly fifteen hundred people, visitors being present from British Columbia, Montana, Idaho, California, Oregon and Washington, purchases even being made by Mexican and Philippine breeders. The total for the sale was more than thirty thousand dollars, the top price being received for Imported Lion Farm's O. K., which was sold for two thousand and seventy-five dollars. He now buys his cattle wherever he can get the best and ships them all over the world, for he has won an international reputation as a breeder of fine stock. Lion farm, which is located at East Eighty-second street, at the southern edge of Portland, consists of sixty acres of fine land, on which Mr. Dammeier has erected a good set of buildings, and within a short distance he owns seven acres, upon which he has his home. He has without question the finest farm home and buildings in Oregon and takes a justifiable pride in his accomplishments. Lion farm received its name from the fact that for twenty-five years a big steel lion, weighing about two thousand pounds, has been upon a portico in front of his house and now remains in front of the home on Eighty-second street, so that people began calling the place either Lion Farm or Lion House, and Mr. Dammeier adopted the former name for his place. He is a member of the American Jersey Cattle Club of New York city, the California Jersey Cattle Club and the Oregon Jersey Cattle Club, being a member of the executive board of each of these organizations. He has shown his cattle at most of the important fairs and stock shows of the country and has won many awards on them. In 1909 Mr. Dammeier was united in marriage to Miss Hazel M. Jensen, of Monitor, Oregon, and they are the parents of a daughter, Margaret, who is a student in the University of California. Mr. Dammeier is a republican in his political views and takes a proper interest in public affairs, though he has never sought office. He has not only gained noteworthy success from a material standpoint, but has also won that which is of more value, the confidence and respect of all who have had business dealings with him, for he has adhered to the highest principles in all of his affairs and has been candid and straightforward in all of his relations with his fellowmen. Additional Comments: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, Pages 740-743 Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/photos/bios/dammeier684gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/dammeier684gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 7.5 Kb