504 6th Street
Oregon City
Petzold House, ca. 1985
Petzold House today. Photo by Courtney Watson, May 4, 2022.
Interior of the home, showing the Craftsman details.
The Richard Petzold house was built in 1911 for the Petzold family by local Clackamas County carpenter/builders Charles and Henry Vonder Ahe. The house is known as the most well-preserved example of a Craftsman style house in the McGloughlin District. It is built in what was called the Dutch Camp neighborhood, which was first established in 1869. Legend has it that the name Dutch Camp comes from local children who created this moniker, likely because the neighborhood’s residents (like the Petzolds) were mostly of German descent.
Henry Vonder Ahe, date unknown. Photo courtesy of Ancestry.com.
Charles and Henry Vonder Ahe were themselves of German descent having been born in Hilla, Germany. They emigrated to America in 1849, crossing the trail to Oregon in 1852. They lived and worked in Clackamas County, building many homes in the early part of the century. In 1908 they completed the Stevens residence at 503 6th Street, and after the Petzold house they built the Andersen residence at 610 Jefferson Street in 1912. In addition to being builders, they were also known as inventors. Despite having only three days of formal education, Henry had invented a filbert sorting machine, washing machines, and was a crafter of guitars and violins.
Charles Vonder Ahe headstone in Mountain View Cemetery. Photo by Courtney Watson, May 4, 2022.
Richard Petzold, who commissioned the house, was born in Dresden, Germany on July 19, 1866. He went to school at the Volk Night School, after which he apprenticed as a master butcher. When he was 20 years old he emigrated to the United States, departing from Bremen, Germany and arriving at Baltimore, Maryland on July 5, 1887. His first stop was Milwaukee, Wisconsin where there was a booming meat packing industry, and where he served as the foreman of the Weisel Sausage factory for two years. In the 1880s meatpacking was one of the leading industries of Milwaukee. Butchers in the city had come together to form packing houses which had expanded into large-scale production of sausages. This was rooted in the city’s large German population. The Weisel family, led by Jacob Weisel and his nephew Carl Weisel Sr., opened the Jacob Weisel Butcher Shop in 1878. The Weisels were originally from Cologne, Germany. By the time Richard Petzold went to work for them, their operations had expanded to include an industrial sausage plant.
Weisel & Company Store, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo Courtesy Milwaukee Public Library.
In 1889 Richard moved to Portland, Oregon to work with the American Dressed Meat Company as a journeyman butcher. As in Milwaukee, the meatpacking industry was booming in Portland in the 1880s. Several Portland butchers had joined together to form the Portland Butchering Company, and soon after two of the butchers from that operation had split off to form the American Dressed Meat Company. The American Dressed Meat Company had slaughterhouses in Troutdale and offices in Portland. In 1892 it consolidated with the Portland Butchering Company to form the Union Meat Company.
Richard and Martha Petzold's marriage license.
Advertisement in the Oregon City Courier, September 18, 1896 for Petzold & Gale's meat market.
On September 10, 1892 Richard Petzold was married to Martha Boden, born September 8, 1870 in Grosswehrsdorf, Germany. She had just recently arrived in the United States from Germany the same year of their marriage. The next year, 1893, Richard and Martha moved to Oregon City where Richard opened a butcher shop with partner Charles H. Gale. In August of that year they also welcomed their first daughter, Erna Eleanor. The next year they welcomed their second daughter Alma Johanna. It was also during this time that Richard and Martha, along with other Christians of German Lutheran descent, came together to form the Zion Lutheran Church which was officially organized in 1894. The family remained members of this church throughout their lives, and would have been part of the church community when the present church was built in the 1920s.
Zion Lutheran Church. Photo by Courtney Watson, May 4, 2022.
In 1898 the family once again relocated, this time going back to Germany. It’s not known how long they stayed, but they soon returned to the United States, settling for a time in La Grande, Oregon. Here Richard managed a butcher shop and became a United States citizen. By 1903 the family had moved back to Oregon City where Richard started a meat market and slaughterhouse. He also began to accumulate real estate–including two rentals and 37 acres on which he raised his stock and operated the slaughterhouse. One of these rentals is the John F. Miller House located at 514 Center Street.
Richard Petzold Meat Market ca. 1920. Richard is on the left in the derby hat. Photo taken around Christmastime. Photo courtesy of Ancestry.com.
In 1905 the family tragically lost their second daughter Alma. No records can be found indicating the cause of death, but the Petzolds had a reputation for being a close family, and were likely devastated. They were not a family of three for long though, as they welcomed their third daughter Agnes Gabrielle in 1906. During these years, Richard continued to operate his meat market, become involved in the community, and raise his family. In addition to being a charter member of the church, Richard was a member of the Commercial Club (which worked to improve the city and county), and was active in local German organizations such as Turn Vevien which was an athletic association in Portland. Richard also served as a Democrat on the Oregon City Council from 1920-1922. The family resided in their home on 6th street beginning in 1911.
Alma's tombstone at Mountain View Cemetery. Photo by Courtney Watson, May 5, 2022.
Meanwhile, circa 1905, a commercial building that would later carry his name was being built at 714 Main Street. The building was originally commissioned by its first owner Gustav Friewald in the Italian Renaissance style. At the time Main Street was the principle road through Oregon City’s commercial district, so it was prime real estate. In 1906 the property was rented to Albert Knapp and Louis A. Nobel, two Californians who opened a combination saloon and liquor store. The second floor of the building was used as the living quarters for the Nobel family, while Louis Nobel worked as the saloon keeper from 1906 to 1919. By 1912 the saloon was operating with Nobel as the sole owner.
Picture on left is historic photo of the Petzold building. Date unknown. Photo on right is Petzold Building today. Photo by Courtney Watson, May 5, 2022.
Interior of Petzold building in December 2020. Photos courtesy of Google.
In 1917 Petzold began to expand his real estate portfolio from residential rental properties to commercial buildings. He eventually owned or held interest in several buildings in Oregon city. In 1917 he purchased the Nobel building from Friewald, and began to convert the saloon into a retail space which he leased to multiple businesses over the years. The second floor was converted sometime during the 1920sfrom a single family residence to five separate apartments, each with a bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom. From 1924-1930 the McAnulty family operated a restaurant and candy shop on the main floor. Petzold family records indicate that Barry and McAnulty later operated a pool hall on the site in the 1930s. Also listed as operating on the ground floor in the 1930s is the Robnett & Cross Drug Store and the Western Hardware Store. In the 1940s the ground floor was remodeled to accommodate the drug store, and also was the location of Klippel’s Auto and Home Supply Store in the 40s.
Petzold retired from the meat business in 1919, but continued to manage his real estate holdings until his death on September 11, 1936. Martha passed away May 12, 1959 from congestive heart failure. Both of them are buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Oregon City.
Petzold headstones, Mountain View Cemetery. Photos by Courtney Watson, May 4, 2022.
After the death of her parents Erna Eleanor Petzold (Alldredge) became owner of the home. She and her husband Joseph resided in the house in the 1960s. The house remained in the ownership of the family until 1982.
Erna and her husband Joseph in front of their cabin in Welches, Oregon. Photo courtesy of www.findagrave.com.
Sources:
National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form. Elizabeth Shellin Atly, March 14, 1958
https://content.mpl.org/digital/collection/HstoricPho/id/1314 - Milwaukee Historic Photos, Milwaukee Public Library Digital Collections
Portland, A Food Biography by Heather Arndt Anderson, pp. 94-95.
Oregon Inventory of Historic Properties Historic Resource Survey Form, Michelle L. Dennis, May 2000
Ancestry.com
United States Department of the Interior, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, James M. Hamrick, February 4, 1982
www.zionlutheranelca.org/about
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