Jacob H. Gensler (Portland)
Columbia Commercial Studio
Directory Listings
1904 PCD not listed
1910 PCD pg. 448 “Gensler, Jacob H trav salsn h 93 1/2 E 8th N”
1911 PCD pg. 572 “Gensler, Jacob H sec-mngr Oregon Engraving Co h 93 1/2 E 8th N”
1912 PCD pg. 595 “Gensler, Jacob H vice-pres Angelus Commercial Photographic Co h 25-286 11th ”
1913 PCD pg. 492 “Gensler Jacob H mngr Angelus Commercial Photographic Co h 25-286 11th”
1914 PCD pg. 610 “Gensler, Jacob H (Adelaide) photogr Angelus Coml Photographic Co h 2-201 14th.”
1915 PCD pg. 494 “Gensler, Jacob H (Adelaide) photgr h 2-201 14th”
1916 PCD pg. 500 “Gensler, Jacob H (Adelaide E) mngr Lester Mfg Co h 2-201 14th”
1917 PJD pg. 76 Photographers “Columbia Commercial Studio, J. H. Gensler, Mgr. 167 4th St., Marshall 726”
1917 PCD pg. 283 “Columbia Commercial Studio (J H Gensler L P Stevens) 501 Behnke-Walker bldg” pg. 449 “Gensler, Jacob H (Alelaide E) (Columbia Commercial Studio) mgr Lester Mfg Co h 2-201 14th”; pg. 693 “Lester Mfg Co J H Gensler mgr cosmetics 501 Behnke-Walder bldg”; pg. 1098 “Stevens, Lester P (Columbia Commercial Studio) r 34-295 12th”
1925 PCD pg. 664 “Gensler, Jacob h 27, 321 14th”
Photographer’s Imprints
“Columbia Commercial Studio” rubber stamp imprint on mount, 8 x 10 print of Portland Waterfront, August 1916, dated by newspaper clipping of event (OHS)
News Items and Advertisements
1918: “J. H. Gensler Charged By Wife With Infidelity. J. H. Gensler, of the Columbia Studio, was named as defendant in a divorce suit filed yesterday in the Circuit Court by Mrs. Adelaide E. Gensler, who charges both cruelty and infidelity and names Nellie Pfahler Stevens as co-respondent. They were married at San Francisco in 1899. The wife demands $75 a month permanent alimony.” Oregonian, June 26, 1918, pg. 7, col. 1.
1918: “Other Woman’ Is Named — Mrs. Adelaide Gensler Plaintiff in Action Against Photographer. Mrs. Adelaide Gensler is plaintiff in a suit for separate maintenance from Jacob H. Gensler, a Portland Photographer, in a complaint on file in the Circuit Court. She does not seek a decree of divorce as was originally stated. The plaintiff charges cruelty, and further alleges her husband is ‘infatuated with one Nellie Pfahler Stevens,’ and this infatuation, she alleges, has caused an estrangement in their home. She asks the court to allow her $75 a month as separate maintenance.” Sunday Oregonian, June 30, 1918, pg. 17, cols. 6-7.
1936: Article about the technological advances in newspapers’ color printing, discussing the methods of making color separation plates, mentions “J. H. Gensler and Lester Stevens of the Columbia Commercial photograph studio” Sunday Oregonian, May 10, 1936, pg. 55
1951: “Poor Health Death Cause. Suicide Indicated In Man’s Death. Lester Pfahler Stevens, 61, 1331 S. W. 12th avenue, was found dead Thursday morning in the office of Soil Renewal Products company, where he had been employed for 40 years. Police said he shot himself through the head with a .38 caliber revolver. A suicide note was found on a desk in the office. Ill health was blamed for the act. Stevens was found at 9 a. m. Thursday by his employer, Jacob Gensler. A coroner’s deputy said Stevens had been dead about three hours. The body is at Finley’s funeral home.” Oregonian, November 30, 1951, pg. 21, col. 4.
1952: “Mystery of Her Majesty’s Chair Finally Solved; Old Camera Plate Proves It Hotel Multnomah. Memory of an 80-year-old ex-photographer has solved a mystery that boded well to become … Finally laid beyond quibble is the origin of the regal throne chair of Rosaria on which numerous lasses have sat to be crowned queen of the Rose Festival. Sure enough, just as The Oregonian’s B. Mike has maintained, the royal chair with the gilded swan arms has borne more than the negligible weight of the youngling queens — even unto the the overstuffed frames of tired hotel dicks who might have sat there long ago to rest their flat and weary feet. ‘H. M.’ Means Hotel Multnomah. Photographic evidence proves that the royal chair used to sit in the lobby of the Multnomah hotel and that the royal crest woven into to its upholstery doesn’t mean ‘Her Majesty’ any more than it means ‘holy mackerel!’ … A photograph taken in 1918 by J. H. Gensler proves it, though. Gensler, now 80, was once a partner in the Columbia photographic studios. Remembering the picture he took, he asked Jim Morris, now head of the studio, to look through the old glass negatives. Morris found the plate and the evidence that the queen’s chair used to be just a stately piece of lobby furniture. …” Oregonian, June 30, 1952, pg. 13. cols. 2-5, with photo reproduced.