Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Keyser, Charles P. December 13, 1878 - ************************************************ 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 6, 2009, 11:49 pm Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company CHARLES P. KEYSER, superintendent of parks for the city of Portland, has been connected with this department of municipal affairs for nearly twenty years and has held his present position for eleven years, his long retention as superintendent standing in evidence of the effective service which he has rendered. Mr. Keyser was born in Elko, Elko county, Nevada, on the 13th of December, 1878, and is a son of Joseph L. and Margaret F. (Yeates) Keyser, who were numbered among the pioneers of that state, the father having gone there in 1871 and the mother's family in the '60s by way of the isthmus of Panama to the coast and thence to that state. Joseph L. Keyser, a Confederate veteran, was for a number of years engaged in ranching, and also did a large business as a contractor and builder, but is now living retired from active affairs, at the age of eighty years. His wife also is living. Charles P. Keyser attended the public and high schools and entered the University of Nevada, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1899. He took up civil engineering and was engaged mainly in railroad work in his native state also in California and Utah until 1906, when he came to Portland, Oregon, where he was employed in railroad work for two years. He then engaged in general civil engineering and in 1909 was appointed engineer for the city park board, in which position he served until 1917, when he was appointed superintendent of parks in which capacity he has served continuously since. He has made many permanent and worthwhile improvements in the parks, in the supervision of which he has proven in every respect capable, and his efforts have been greatly appreciated by the people of this city, who take a justifiable pride in their beautiful parks. On August 5, 1906, Mr. Keyser was united in marriage to Miss Aimee Sherman, of Reno, Nevada, and they are the parents of a son, Joseph Elliott, who has graduated from high school. Mr. Keyser is a democrat in his political views and is a member of Washington Lodge, No. 46, A. F. & A. M.; Reno Consistory, A. & A. S. R., and Al Kader Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He also belongs to the University Club, and Multnomah Athletic Club, of which he was secretary for five years, the Mazamas, the Rose Festival Association, of which he is a director, the American Rose Society and the American Society of Civil Engineers. He also belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and the Royal Rosarians and for years has been very active in the directorate of the Portland Rose Festival. He was one of a building committee of three on planning and constructing the Multnomah Civic Stadium. Since the beginning of his park work in 1909 the system has grown from six hundred acres to two thousand three hundred acres. One of the main recreational features was the establishment of municipal golf that has put Portland in the lead in that respect. He and his wife are both descended from old Revolutionary stock, their respective families having been long established in this country. Mr. Keyser is a man of high attainments as an engineer, his ability in that line contributing in large measure to his success in supervising the parks, and few men have labored so effectively and earnestly for the city’s welfare, his efforts being attended with gratifying results. Additional Comments: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, Pages 637-638 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/keyser592gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 4.1 Kb