Simon Benson was a noted businessman and philanthropist from Portland, Oregon. Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon, and county seat of Multnomah County. ...

Early life

He was born in Norway in 1851, one of seven children in the Berger Iversen family. His eldest brother Jon immigrated to the United States in 1861, followed by his sister Mathea in 1865. In 1867, his parents and the rest of the family also followed - landing first in New York City, and then traveling to Black River Falls, Wisconsin, to join the oldest son and daughter. 1851 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1861 is a common year starting on Tuesday. ... 1865 is a common year starting on Sunday. ... 1867 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... The Empire State Building (right) and the Chrysler Building (left) are easily recognized symbols of New York City to the world. ... Black River Falls is a city located in Jackson County, Wisconsin. ...

After arriving in the United States, the family took out naturalization papers, simplified their family name to "Benson," and proceeded to become US citizens.

Simon Iversen, later known as Simon Benson, was 16 when he arrived in the United States. He first went to work as a farm hand and later worked in logging camps and sawmills. At the age of 24, he opened a general store in Lynxville, near Prairie du Chien in sothwest Wisconsin. It did well until it was destroyed by fire three years later. Then 27, he was completely broke and now had a wife, Esther Searles, and son Amos to care for.

Having heard about all the timber there was in the Northwest and with his experience working in the woods and sawmills of Wisconsin, he scraped together all the money he could and moved his family to Portland, Oregon in 1880. Simon had two more children with Esther, Alice and Caroline, before Esther died in 1891 after a long fight with tuberculosis. In 1894 Simon married Pamelia Loomis by whom he had two more children, Gilbert and Chester. Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon, and county seat of Multnomah County. ...

Riding through two personal cycles of prosperity and poverty before his third and lasting success, Benson went into the business of logging in near Clatskanie, Oregon and Oak Point, Washington downstream from Portland, buying up tracts of timber wherever he could. He introduced a number of changes to Northwest logging, including the donkey steam engine which replaced the oxen that had previously been used to haul logs. He later built the famous Benson sea-going rafts which could carry up to six million board feet of timber, cutting the cost of transporting logs to markets in California. Clatskanie is a city located in Columbia County, Oregon. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 3rd 410,000 km² 402. ...

In 1898, he moved his family and his business headquarters back to Portland. The family lived in a rented house for two years until he decided to build a new home at the corner of SW 11th and Clay. This is the home known as the Simon Benson House.

Success

Now a wealthy man, Benson's interests expanded beyond the timber industry. In 1912, he began building a fine hotel because he felt it was needed in Portland to attract tourists and more commerce to the city. It was modeled on the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago, a brick structure with the same type of French mansard roof. It opened in 1913 and was known as the Oregon Hotel. For sixteen months it lost money and finally Benson took over management, at which time it became known as the Benson Hotel, just as it is today. The Blackstone Hotel is located in Chicago at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Balbo Street. ...

Benson later built the Columbia Gorge Hotel near Hood River in 1921. He bought Henry Thiele, later owner of his own famous restaurants in Portland, to be its head chef. Benson was also an enthusiastic supporter of good roads and among a group of businessmen who encouraged the building of the Columbia River Highway. When citizens of Hood River County voted a $75,000 bond levy to construct the portion of the highway that would run from the Multnomah County line to Hood River, Benson purchased the entire bond issue within a month because the bonds were not selling.

Philanthropy

Benson is remembered for his philanthropy. He has been quoted as saying,

"No one has the right to die and not leave something to the public and for the public good."

Simon Benson carried out that philosophy with purpose and generosity.

He purchased a 400 acre (1.6 km²) tract of land in the Columbia River Gorge, which included Wahkeena Falls and Multnomah Falls, and deeded it to the City of Portland for a public park. Subsequently, the land was divided to become the Wahkeena Falls Recreation Area, Benson State Park, and Multnomah Falls Recreation Area. The Columbia River Gorge is a spectacular canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. ... Multnomah Falls. ...

Benson also paid for the masonry footbridge across Wahkeena Falls and the reinforced concrete arch pedestrian bridge over the lower Multnomah Falls. Benson, who had little schooling himself, believed in the importance of education. In 1916, he gave the Portland School District $100,000 to help fund the building of a polytechnic school. Finished in 1918, the school was first used for the training of soldiers for World War I. It was re-opened to high school students in January 1919 and re-named Benson Polytechnic. Benson gave the City of Portland $10,000 for the installation of twenty bronze drinking fountains. These handsome fountains, fondly known as Benson Bubblers, are still in use in downtown Portland today. This district is unique in that all of the schools are named after United States Presidents. ...

One of the original Benson Bubblers will be installed at the corner of SW Park and Montgomery, in front of the Benson House, to commemorate this gift. It is said that the fountains were put in to dissaude workers on his hotel from going to a bar to get a drink of water and then decide on an alcoholic beverage instead.

In recognition of all that Simon Benson had done for the City of Portland and the State of Oregon, he was chosen to represent Oregon at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915 as the state's "First Citizen." Categories: Stub | Worlds Fairs | California history | San Francisco history ...

Later life

In the early 1920s, Benson moved to southern California to retire, but gradually became active in business again, buying and developing land and managing business properties. He died in Los Angeles in August 1942, a month short of his ninety-first birthday. This article is about the largest city in California. ...

Reference

Allen, Alice Benson (June 1976). Simon Benson: Northwest Lumber King, Binford & Mort Pubs. ISBN 0832300470.