Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Rasmussen, J. P. January 10, 1853 - 
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Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com May 16, 2009, 11:35 am

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     J. P. RASMUSSEN.  Rasmussen & Company, incorporated, is one of Portland's 
leading paint varnish concerns and during its history of thirty-five years has 
enjoyed a steady continuous growth, due mainly to the able and progressive 
business policy of president, J. P. Rasmussen, who founded the enterprise.

     Mr. Rasmussen is a native of Denmark, born at Ringsted, January 10, 1853, 
and was there reared and educated. About 1872 he came to the United States, 
locating first in Vermont, where he lived about one year, and then came to 
Oregon. For several years he was employed in the steamboat division of the old 
Oregon Steam Navigation Company, having charge of painting at the old "bone 
yard" in North Portland and at Puget Sound. During this period he resided in 
Portland. In 1886 he entered into partnership with Henry J. Fisher, who had 
been superintendent of painting for the Oregon Steam Navigation Company's 
railroad lines, and under the firm name of Rasmussen, Fisher & Company, opened 
a small paint, varnish and glass store on Washington street, between First and 
Second streets. In 1894 Mr. Rasmussen withdrew from the firm and established a 
business of his own, under the name of Rasmussen & Company. He started on a 
small scale on Washington street, between Front and First streets, where he 
had twenty-five feet frontage. The venture proved successful and in 1904 Mr. 
Rasmussen branched out into the manufacturing end of the business, making a 
few paint specialties in a shop on Union avenue, near East Stark street. His 
wholesale and retail trade was good and the manufacturing end of the business 
increased to an extent that demanded more room, so he moved to a four-story 
building at East Third and Pine streets, where he equipped an up-to-date paint 
factory, remaining there until 1917, when he built the present structure at 
East Eleventh and Irving streets, which he now occupies, using the entire six-
story building, with four hundred and sixty feet of frontage, equipped with 
spur tracks for loading and unloading. In 1918 Mr. Rasmussen built a varnish 
factory on Linnton road, which is devoted to the making of a full line of 
varnishes and lacquers, for which he provided the most modern type of 
equipment. He now employs one hundred five people, and his plants have an 
annual productive capacity of approximately one million gallons of paint, 
varnish and lacquer. The Company's office and store are at Taylor and Second 
streets, Portland, and a branch store is also maintained in Seattle. The firm 
is represented by eighteen traveling salesmen, whose territory is west of the 
Rocky Mountains, and mostly in the northwest.

     In 1881, in Portland, Mr. Rasmussen was united in marriage to Miss 
Elizabeth Danielsen, who was born in Norway, from which country she was 
brought to the United States in childhood. After living in Chicago, Illinois, 
for a number of years she came to the coast, where she met Mr. Rasmussen. To 
them have been born four children: Jennie, now the wife of Hopkin Jenkins, of 
Portland; Hardy, connected with the sales department of his father's business; 
Sidney C., secretary of Rasmussen & Company, who married Miss Adelaide 
Withycomb, a native of Portland, and they have two children, Jean, aged twelve 
years, and Sidney Jr., aged eleven years. Sidney C. is a member of the Chamber 
of Commerce, the Portland Golf Club, the Rotary Club, and the Progressive 
Business Men's Club. Ralph has charge of the business at Seattle. Hardy and 
Ralph are members of the Masonic order.

     Although he has applied himself strenuously to business, Mr. Rasmussen 
has nevertheless found time for diversion and travel.  Twenty years ago he 
made his first visit back to Denmark. In December, 1922, he started on a tour 
of the world, visiting the Hawaiian islands, Japan, China, the Philippine 
islands, Java, Ceylon and India. He sailed through the Indian Ocean, Red Sea 
and the Suez Canal and visited Cairo, Egypt, Palestine, Jerusalem and 
environs. He then went to Alexandria, Egypt, across the Mediterranean to 
Naples, after which he traveled through Switzerland, Germany, France and 
Denmark, visiting the battlefield of Rheims. After spending some time in 
England he crossed the Atlantic and landed in New York city. In 1927, 
accompanied by his brother-in-law, Gustav Danielsen of St. Petersburg, 
Florida, he made a third extended tour of Europe. They sailed from New York 
city and visited Spain and Portugal and also some of the battlefields of the 
World war. They then proceeded to Copenhagen, Denmark, Gottenburg and 
Stockholm, Sweden, and to Oslo (formerly Christiania), Norway, thence up along 
the coast of Norway for more than one thousand miles, taking in Bergen, and 
proceeding on to the north cape, where for three nights in succession they 
viewed the midnight sun. Returning to Bergen, they crossed the North Sea and 
went to Newcastle, England, taking in several of the interesting places in 
England and Scotland, including Glasgow and Edinburgh, and Leamington, England 
(Shakespearian haunts). They sailed from Southampton, England, and landed in 
New York city. Thence they crossed the continent on the Canadian Pacific to 
Vancouver, British Columbia, stopping on the way to Banff and Lake Louise. 
From Vancouver they proceeded to Portland by rail and were glad to get home, 
being satisfied that there is no place like the Rose city.

     Mr. Rasmussen is identified with the Chamber of Commerce and the Auld 
Lang Syne Society, and he and his wife are active members of the First 
Methodist Episcopal church. He is a man of broad views and marked public 
spirit and has been an earnest supporter of all movements or measures for the 
betterment of his community along material, civic or moral lines. Kind and 
generous in disposition and cordial and friendly in manner, he has long 
commanded the unqualified respect and esteem of his fellowmen and is regarded 
as one of Portland's substantial citizens.

Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, 
Pages 700-703

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