TODAY THIS IS THE MARK SPENCER

Mr Bowers was the first manager at The Portland Hotel. He built THE BOWERS.

Comments

[DG]

The building shown here was built and opened in 1908 as the new "Nortonia Hotel", the older Nortonia hotel at 14th & Washington which was opened in 1906 was renamed the Danmore after some renovations. This hotel was at one time named "The Bowers"

Info from the news stories about the death of H C Bowers on 12/25/1924.
H C Bower got his start in the hotel business as a bellboy at a Washington DC hotel, and progressed in the hotel business to working in NYC, and Seattle. H C Bowers arrived in Portland in 1894 to become the manager of the Hotel Portland at SW 6th & Morrison. What he found was a rundown "country hotel" and not what it later became. The property owner was Senator H W Corbett. H C Bowers convinced Corbett that the hotel needed to be renovated in order to make a profit. Bowers renovated the entire hotel, and put in place standards like requiring men to dress in suits to eat in the dining room. The renovation turned the hotel around and Corbett saw the hotel profits and reputation of the Hotel Portland grow.

In 1910 H C Bowers left the Hotel Portland and took over management or ownership of the new Nortonia Hotel and renamed it "The Bowers" until he left in 1912 to become the manager of the "Multnomah Hotel" with the Bowers Hotel name still being unused in 1913. In 1916 H C Bowers ended his Portland hotel career and returned to manage hotels in Seattle until his death in 1924.

[DG]

The Portland Hotel opened in early April 1890 (8th) and news stories identified the manager as Mr Leland, but a story from June give the name of Charles Leland.