Wilhelm's Portland Memorial Funeral Home, Mausoleum and Crematory is a

funerary A funeral is a ceremony connected with the Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture ...

establishment in the Sellwood neighborhood of southeast

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, United States. Opened in 1901 as the Portland Crematorium, it is the first and oldest

crematorium A crematorium or crematory is a venue for the cremation of the dead. Modern crematoria contain at least one cremator (also known as a crematory, retort or cremation chamber), a purpose-built furnace. In some countries a crematorium can also be ...

west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

, and the largest privately managed indoor burial site in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

. Established due to a growing demand for crematory services in Portland at the turn of the 20th century, the establishment evolved to house a

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

as well, which consists of eight stories and over of hallways, featuring ornate stained glass and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

sculptures.

History

Wilhelm's Portland Memorial - DSC 0115 (2120125422)

Wilhelm's Portland Memorial Funeral Home was originally established as the Portland Crematorium on April 24, 1901, in response to the demand for

crematory A crematorium or crematory is a venue for the cremation of the dead. Modern crematoria contain at least one cremator (also known as a crematory, retort or cremation chamber), a purpose-built furnace. In some countries a crematorium can also be ...

services in the Portland area. The Spanish

Mission Revival The Mission Revival style was part of an architectural movement, beginning in the late 19th century, for the revival and reinterpretation of American colonial styles. Mission Revival drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century ...

-style mausoleum was built between 1900 and 1901, featuring whitewashed stucco walls, a tile roof, and mosaic tile doors. Frank Gibson, the secretary of the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Cremation Company, served as the first superintendent and manage of the crematory. At the time of its opening, charges for cremation were $45, and $25 for children under the age of twelve. Upon its opening, the

Portland Railway, Light and Power Company The Portland Railway, Light and Power Company (PRL&P) was a railway company and electric power utility in Portland, Oregon, United States, from 1906 until 1924.Thompson, Richard M. (2006). ''Portland's Streetcars'', pp. 57 and 99. Arcadia Publish ...

operated a funeral car that could accommodate a casket as well as sitting benches for grieving family members. Wilhelm's Portland Memorial - DSC 0136 (2120139418)

Wilhelm's Portland Memorial - DSC 0136 (2120139418)

In subsequent decades, the crematorium expanded into a full-fledged

. Connected by vault-lined hallways, staircases, and elevators, the mausoleum faces the

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...

and Oaks Bottom swamp, is eight stories in height, and contains over of hallways. The mausoleum features numerous marble fronts on crypts which originate from quarries in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, while a variety of statues and other religious sculptures throughout were made by the Italian Tavarelli Studios. One of the central statuaries in the mausoleum is a replica of

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

's '' La Pietà''. Stained glass crafted by the Povey Brothers is incorporated throughout. The original crematorium building is the Rose Chamber, grouped with several rooms below it, also named after flowers: the Lily, Daisy, Tulip, and Carnation Rooms. Various wings throughout the mausoleum take their names from religious figures as well as U.S. presidents.

Accessibility

Wilhelm's Portland Memorial Funeral Home is open to the public. Each

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

, the historic private tomb of George Rae, one of the wealthiest men in Portland history, is open to the public for 90 minutes.

Notable burials

* Homer Daniel Angell, U.S. congressman *

Charlie Babb Charles David Babb (born February 4, 1950) is a former Safety (American football position), safety for the Miami Dolphins (1972–1979). He is a graduate of Charleston High School (Missouri), Charleston High School in Charleston, Missouri. Refe ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player *

Jack Beutel Jack Buetel (September 5, 1915 – June 27, 1989) was an American film and television actor. Life Born John Alexander Beutel in Dallas, Texas, he moved to Los Angeles, California in the late 1930s with the intention of establishing a film caree ...

, actor * William Alexander Ekwall, U.S. congressman * William Russell Ellis, educator and politician *

Charlie High Charles Edwin High (December 12, 1898 – September 1, 1960) was an American professional baseball player who appeared in 28 career games as an outfielder and pinch hitter for the Philadelphia Athletics of Major League Baseball during the and ...

, Major League Baseball player * Robert Denison Holmes, 28th Governor of Oregon *

Syl Johnson Sylvester Johnson (born Sylvester Thompson; July 1, 1936 – February 6, 2022) was an American blues and soul singer, musician, songwriter and record producer. His most successful records included "Different Strokes" (1967), " Is It Because I' ...

, Major League Baseball player *

Fielder Jones Fielder Allison Jones (August 13, 1871 – March 13, 1934) was an American center fielder and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). He was best known as the player-manager of the World Series champion 1906 Chicago White Sox, a team who succeede ...

, Major League Baseball player *

Rufus Mallory Rufus Mallory (January or June 10, 1831 – April 30, 1914) was an American educator, lawyer, and politician in the state of Oregon. A native of New York, he was a teacher in Iowa before moving to Oregon where he became an attorney. He was a dis ...

, politician and lawyer *

Mayo Methot Mayo Jane Methot (March 3, 1904 – June 9, 1951) was an American film and stage actress. She appeared in over 30 films, as well as in various Broadway productions, though she attracted significant media attention for her tempestuous marriage t ...

, actress * Theodore Penland, U.S. soldier * Charlie Swindells, Major League Baseball player *

Wayne Twitchell Wayne Lee Twitchell (March 10, 1948 – September 16, 2010) was an American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. Early years Twitchell played basketball, football and baseball at Wilson High School in Portland, Oregon. The University ...

, Major League Baseball player *

John Yeon John Yeon (October 29, 1910 – March 13, 1994) was an American architect in Portland, Oregon, in the mid-twentieth century. He is regarded as one of the early practitioners of the Northwest Regional style of Modernism. Largely self-taught, ...

, architect

Gallery

References

Sources

* * * {{Sellwood-Moreland, Portland, Oregon 1901 establishments in Oregon Buildings and structures in Portland, Oregon Crematoria in the United States Death care companies of the United States Mausoleums in the United States Mission Revival architecture in Oregon Sellwood-Moreland, Portland, Oregon

History

Accessibility

Notable burials

Gallery

See also

References

Sources