“I’ll tell you about Allen & Lewis for they are yet doing business, but on a much larger scale. I notice the old sign has been taken down and carefully covered with a thick plate glass to preserve it from the elements and it has been hung back in the same old place and it really looks familiar. They employ an army of men and women clerks and hundreds of vehicles, mostly flying machines, to carry their merchandise to their customers. This business is a monument to the sagacity, honesty, intelligence and fearlessness of Mr. C. H. Lewis, the founder of this great house. His memory is still revered by his own people and those on whom he bestowed kindness.
“The familiar name of Lang & Co., appears on a large building on Oak Street, near West Park, the founder of which was Isador Lang.”
“Who is in the printing business off there on the outskirts of eternity, whose names were once familiar to me?” I queried, as the old lady came to a pause.
“Well, there is the name of F. W. Baltes and Company, who occupy a whole block down near their old location, and it sounds good to me. There are, too, the names of J. R. Rogers & Company and Anderson & Company, but they are located away up town now.”
“Tell me about the hotels, please; are there any of the old land marks left?” I queried.
“Very few, if any. You see, the flying machines revolutionized the hotel business and most of the finest hostelries are now out of town, several being constructed on Mt. Tabor, Council Crest and other eminences. The Multnomah Hotel is still running but the environments and surroundings have wonderfully changed, the old wooden buildings have disappeared and commodious, well-built structures have been erected instead. Space is too valuable down town for hotels, and the traveling public demand more suburban locations where there is more quiet and better air.
“Clossett & Devers are engaged in business away down on Front Street, and occupy a whole block and the odors arising from their coffees and spices smell just as sweet as they did when you passed by their store years ago.
“Now, there is Fleischner, Mayer & Co. They have certainly kept up with the times generally, being just a little in the advance so as to set the pace for their competitors. The business is now being conducted by I. N. Fleischner the Third, M. M. Fleischner the Third, Sol and Sanford Hirsch, Mark Mayer the Third. There are grand nephews of Sam Simon connected with the firm and the old names are much in evidence.
“In the insurance business, I notice we have some of the old names yet. There is James Peter Moffatt, Jr., Rosenblatt Bros., J. D. Wilcox, Jr., John H. Burgard III., J. McI. Wood, L. Samuel III, Henry Hewitt, Edward Hall, F. E. Hart, Thos. Jordan, F. J. Alex Mayer, Frank Motter, Harvey O’Brien. It is remarkable how the sons of professional men follow in the footsteps of their fathers’ business. There is Erskine Wood, who must be a great grandson of Mr. C. E. S. Wood, Robert Strong Sargent, undoubtedly the branch of Harry K. Sargent. Dan J. Malarkey, Jr., the grandson of our Dan. Russell Sewall, whose grandfather you knew well. P. J. Bannon, nephew to our own Mr. Bannon. Henry E. McGinn, who is none other than the grand nephew of Judge H. E. McGinn of the Circuit Court, the most wideawake, fearless exponent of good law in the state, I find the names of M. C. George III, John F. Logan, a grandson of our John. John Ditchburn, once known as ‘Honest John,’ and ‘Gentleman John,’ whose name is among the attorneys of 1999. Here is a list of the rest of these attorneys: J. D. Mann, Chester Murphy, W. D. Fenton, Walter Hayes, John Manning.
“All these are very familiar names to you and they all appear in the telephone directory for 1999, but I must give you a few more whom you will remember, and the old lady read off the following list which sounded good to me: John Beck, Whitney Boise, Geo. Brice, Bronaugh, Citron, D. S. Cohen, Craib, Dolph, Mallory, Duniway, Emmons, Ferrera, Fouts, Carey, Gleason, Glisan, Hogue, Green, Hazen, Holman, Hume, C. M. Idleman, Languth, Logan, Wallace McCamant, McDevitt, L. A. McNary, Moody, Morris, G. C. Moser, Munley, Olsen, Pague, Pipes, F. J. Richardson, Giltner, Chas. J. Schnabel, Shillock, Zera Snow, S. Raynor, Stott, Sweek, Swope, Jos. N. Teal, Upton, Vaughn, Webster, Whalley, Whitfield, Williams, Ryan, Thos. O’Day, Tazwell.