| Upon looking through the OR HSD DB, the Buckman team noticed two different houses built the same year and listed as the residence of J. S. Polhemus. Upon checking city directories for the period, we confirmed that J. S. Polhemus never lived in either property. The 1900 census confirms this data, listing Irving Rohr, a "job printer" as the head of the household. The house consisted of four of his younger siblings and their widowed mother. The 1900 census also confirms that they were renting the home.
Deed research unveiled that James S. Polhemus acquired the land on which the house in question sits as well as some adjacent land to the west. The land was acquired at a Sheriff’s auction in 1894 from Esther Wills. There appear to have been two houses on the property at the northwest corner of the intersection of the intersection of SE 16th Avenue and SE Ash Street. A house to the west (1521 SE Ash) was sold to the Wright family in 1921 and remains extant. Earlier researchers misinterpreted this transaction between Polhemus and Wright as a sale of the land at the very corner, but it was specifically only the splitting off of the land on which the house to the west sat.
Mr. Polhemus demolished an existing house on site after his purchase and had the extant house built by 1900.
Mr. Polhemus maintained ownership of 135 SE 16th Avenue after 1921, but appears to have sold it by 1928, according to a City of Portland plumbing permit that lists Edwin Widmer as the owner of the property in 1928. By reference to another plumbing permit, Mr. Widmer maintained ownership of the house through at least 1937. I was unable to locate evidence in the census or city directories of Mr. Widmer ever living in the house.
135 SE 16th Ave Tenants
Per the 1898 city directory, the Rohr family did not yet reside at this address.
1900 Census
· Irving N. Rohr, head of household, printer, born 1876 in Oregon.
· Ralph G. Rohr, brother, printer, born 1879 in Oregon.
· Chester M Rohr, brother, student, born 1883 in Oregon
· Anna L Rohr, sister, student, born 1865 in Oregon
· Lillian M. Rohr, sister, student, born 1872 in Oregon
· Amelia M. Rohr, widow, unemployed, born 1841 in Indiana to German immigrant parents.
· The deceased spouse of Mrs. Rohr was born in France.
1910 Census
· Mary A. Rohr (widow of the same age, parentage, and number of children as 1900’s Amelia).
· Irving Rohr, single, newspaper printer
· Annie Rohr, single, unemployed
1918: Irving Rohr gives an address some distance to the northeast on a draft registration card.
1920 Census: Entire Rohr family (widowed mother, Irving, Annie, and Chester) have moved elsewhere.
-Tim Askin, MS
Preservation Consultant
Architectural Historian |
