History of Early Pioneer Families of Hood River, Oregon. Compiled by Mrs. D.M. Coon

JOHN HENRY GERDES
by Lillian Gerdee Lemley

     John Henry Gerdes came to Hood River, Oregon in 1878, when the town was Main Street and many Trails. He was identified with early day life as a homesteader, later conducted a butcher shop, restaurant, boarding house and a hotel.
     He was born August 10, 1850 at East Freesland, on the North Sea, Kingdom of Hanover, Germany, and he became an orphan when a small boy. He was two years old when his father died and three years later his mother passed away. There ware two older brothers, Albert and Herman. He was reared by the family of his mother. As was the custom in Germany, in early youth he began apprenticeship as a blacksmith.
     Although short of stature, he was of rugged build and able to stand up under hard work. He made the nails and shoes for the horses he shod. To become a master at his trade, it was necessary to serve an apprenticeship of four years and travel in a foreign state. The final test was to make a plow under the close supervision of a master blacksmith.
     At the age of 19 Mr. Gerdes boarded a sailing vessel at Bremen, Germany. The passage on the Marco Polo require seven weeks to reach New York City.
     Mr. Gerdes worked at his trade in New York and New Jersey for several years, then went to work as clerk in a grocery stare in New York City. There was a man staying at his boarding house from California, who told him so much that was good about that state, that he decided to see the Pacific Coast. He attended the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876 and left from there for California.
     As soon as he arrived in San Francisco he secured work in a hotel. In the spring of 1878, there was considerable emigration to the Northwest so Mr. Gerdes joined the migration. From Portland, he sought land to homestead near Camas Prairie, Wash. Failing to find the type of place he had in mind, he did not file but went to work as a blacksmith at Cascade Locks, Ore. The O.S.N. Co. was build-ing six miles of portage railroad on the Washington side of the Columbia River to transfer the travelers from the boats above the Cascades to the boats below. All that summer he worked for $2.00 per day.
     A fellow workman, Charles Buich, told him about Hood River valley, so Mr. Gerdes moved on to Hood River in the fall of 1878 where he made his homestead filing in Duke's Valley. Homesteads were 160 acres and require five years to make proof. He built a log cabin and a barn and soon had 12 head of cattle. Baldwin and Tieman, well known early pioneers, owned a cattle ranch in the Upper Valley at that time.
     In 1883 fire destroyed his cabin and barn so Mr. Gerdes moved to town where be started the first butcher shop in Hood River. This was the beginnings of the present Hood River town in 1880. Mr. Gerdes' butcher shop was located on State road, now known as State St. At that time it was the town's main street, just a dirt road, axle deep dust in summer and same depth of mud in winter. He purchased a lot at the corner of what is now 3rd & State for $75.00 and erected his store building which handled both meat and groceries. For nearly four years he operated a thriving business, then fire again took toll, completely wiping him out.
     In the meantime he had purchased two lots on 3rd & Cascade for $600.00. Here he and Mrs. Gerdes, who was Lillian Jackson, opened a bakery. This building was on the spot where Bartol Motor operated for many years during the first half of the 1900's. Later they opened a Confectionary and Restuarant where the Safeway Stores now operates. At this time he purchased a five acre tract in the Frankton district which he farmed in addition to his other enterprises for a number of years.
     John Henry Gerdes and Carrie Lillian Jackson were married September 15, 1887.
     She was the daughter of Captain and Mrs. F.M. Jackson, who had come from Morristown, Tennessee, by way of Texas, California and Portland, Oregon to Hood River and homesteaded in the Pine Grove district in 1872. Mrs. Gerdes mother was a relative of Captain Lewis of Lewis & Clark fame. Also the fanily of Thurmans, one of whom was a candidate for the Vice-Presidency with Grover Cleveland. John Eldredge, pastor of the United Brethern church, performed the wedding cerremony. Ten children were born to this union, four of whom are living in this year 1954.
     In 1899, Mr. & Mrs. Gerdes purchaced the Delk property on 2nd & Cascade where the Gerdes Hotel still stands. In 1906 Mr. Gerdes built an addition to the original building and began the operation of the rooming house which he continued until his death in 1934, at the age of 84. Mrs. Gerdes passed away in 1920 at the age of 54.
     The surviving children are Lawrence M. of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Grace Margaretta Veach, Shelby, Montana, Carrie Lillian Lemley, Hood River, Oregon, and Florence Lewis Hood, Portland, Oregon.
     Gerdes was a member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge for 58 years. He had joined this fraternal order in Philadelphia in 1876. He had been confirmed in the German Lutheran Church in the Old Country, but he and Mrs. Gerdes joined the United Brethern church in Hood River.

[HOME] ©  Jeffrey L. Elmer