Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Nicolai, Harry T. 1881 - 
************************************************
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 10, 2010, 11:08 pm

Source: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
Author: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 267 - 268

     HARRY T. NICOLAI.  Portland takes a justifiable pride in her native sons 
who have remained here and have achieved success in the various professions 
and the business world. Among these, none has achieved more distinctive 
success than has Harry T. Nicolai, president of the Nicolai Door Manufacturing 
Company, of Portland, which is the second largest concern in its line in the 
world, its products being sold in every civilized country. Mr. Nicolai was 
born in Portland in 1881 and is a son of Theo and Hannah (Lieb) Nicolai. His 
father located in this city in 1864 and founded the firm of Nicolai Brothers, 
who established the first planing mill in Portland, and also operated a 
sawmill. This firm was later succeeded by the Nicolai-Neppach Company, one of 
the best known business concerns in this section of the coast, and Mr. Nicolai 
is now retired from active affairs.

     Harry T. Nicolai attended the public schools of Portland, graduating from 
high school, after which he became associated with his father in the business, 
with which he remained identified until 1910, when he embarked in business on 
his own account, establishing the Nicolai Door Manufacturing Company. The 
present officers are Harry T. Nicolai, president; Thomas Autzen, vice 
president, and Arthur F. Nicolai, secretary. Harry T. Nicolai has always been 
the active manager of the business, which has enjoyed a steady and substantial 
growth from the time of its inception and is now one of Portland's most 
important industries. The plant is located on Denver and Argyle streets, 
fronting on Columbia boulevard, where the buildings and yards occupy about 
fourteen acres of ground, in addition to which the dry kilns occupy nine 
acres. Private railroad switches will accommodate thirty cars at one time and 
are so arranged as to facilitate the unloading of raw material and the loading 
and shipping of the finished products. The company manufactures house and 
garage doors, in the making of which Douglas fir is used almost exclusively. 
The green lumber is bought direct from the mills and the company does its own 
kiln drying and seasoning, using over forty-five million feet of lumber a 
year, and has an annual output of one and a half million doors, the volume of 
business amounting to over three million dollars a year. The company employs 
over five hundred men, half of whom are skilled workmen, and the annual 
payroll amounts to over seven hundred thousand dollars. The doors are shipped 
to every state in the Union, to Canada and all other parts of the world, and 
in 1926-7 over one million doors were sold in the United Kingdom alone. The 
company manufactures a superior garage door, of which it makes over two 
hundred thousand a year. Branch offices are maintained in Chicago, New York, 
San Francisco and Los Angeles and from eight to ten traveling representatives 
cover the country, selling to jobbers and distributors. Mass production and 
the nearness of the plant to the source of supply of the raw material, as well 
as able and progressive management, have enabled the Nicolai company to 
successfully compete in all of the markets of the world, and the quality of 
its product will compare favorably with any other make. The plant is in every 
respect modern, the individual motor system being used in the operation of all 
machinery, while the fire hazard is reduced through a complete automatic 
sprinkler system. Mr. Nicolai has shown marked executive ability in the 
management of his business and through his success has contributed in large 
measure to the general prosperity of his city. He is a member of the Arlington 
Club, the Multnomah Athletic Club and the Waverly Golf Club, and is a director 
of the West Coast National Bank. He enjoys a wide acquaintance and to a marked 
degree commands the confidence and respect of his fellowmen.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/nicolai1033gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/

File size: 4.5 Kb