Welcome to The Volga Germans in Portland website. This site is a resource for learning about the history, heritage and settlement of this ethnic group that settled in Oregon and Southwest Washington.
Migrating from the Germanic areas of Western Europe in the 1760's, these colonists settled along the Volga River near the city of Saratov and established colonies on the vast unsettled steppes of Russia.
The colonists built stable communities, established farms, churches, schools and businesses in their new homeland in Russia.
In the later part of the 19th century, these ethnic Germans looked to find new opportunities, escape political repression and preserve their way of life. Many Germans living in Russia's lower Volga River region came to the United States and Canada during this time period - settling first in the Midwestern regions. By the early 1880s these pioneers were moving west and many came to call Portland their new home.
Henry E. Hergert, a Volga German from Brunnental, Russia, owned two saloons in NE Portland from the early 1900's to about 1912. One of the establishments was on the corner of Union & Russell (shown above) and the other was located at Goldsmith (now Larrabee) & Russell near the Albina rail yard. Photograph courtesy of Carol Gass (nee Hergert) and Teresa Gass.
The Volga Germans became an integral part of the diverse fabric of this community. This site is dedicated to those families, their ancestors, and the descendants who carry on their memory. I hope that you will explore the culture, history and heritage of the Volga Germans in Portland and become active in its preservation.
Photograph of Henry and Katherine Miller's children circa 1925 courtesy of Chris Kauhi.
RECENT ADDITIONS AND NEWS
Unidentified Citizenship Class
1927 Zion Church Confirmation Class
Register for the Norka Founders Day Event!
The 1933 confirmation class of the German Evangelical Congregational Brethren Church
The Gartner family by Ron Folck
Article on the former St. Paul's Church in The Oregonian (13 Jan 2013)
The home of Katie and Margaret Derr on 7th Street near Beech in 1903. Photograph courtesy of Donna Palmer Wakefield.
Lyon's Farm by Melvin (Mel) Cook
Zion Congregational Church Confirmation Class of 1935
Ebenezer German Congregational Church Confirmation Class of 1922
Extra…Extra…Read All About It! by Melvin (Mel) Cook
Irving Park's Volga German Connections by Steve Schreiber
Story of Ludwig and Katherine Miller
Story of Conrad and Katherine Bauer
A Gas Pump Jockey at N.E. 7th and Fremont by Melvin (Mel) Cook
Zion Congregational Church 40th Anniversary Booklet
Zion Congregational Church 50th Anniversary Booklet
Rivercrest Community Church History Booklet
Updated profile of Emma Schwabenland Haynes
Sunday School Picnics by Melvin (Mel) Cook
Please contact Svetlana Kaiser if you have information about this photo. Svetlana believes that these people are the relatives of her father's step-mother, Anna Kaiser. Anna Kaiser was born in Norka in 1911 to John and Magdalena Kaiser.
A new story about Watkins Drugstore by Melvin (Mel) Cook
A profile of professional wrestler Kurt von Poppenheim by Melvin (Mel) Cook
A new story about Cold Storage by Melvin (Mel) Cook
Updated Sports page with new athlete profiles
The Descendants of Adam and Catherine Maria Leichner
Updated page for the St. Paul's Evangelical and Reformed Church
Please contact the webmaster if you can you identify anyone in the photo above which was likely taken in Portland in the 1920s. The photograph may be connected to a Brill family from Norka. Photograph courtesy of Nedra Brill.
The Vogel Family by Ginny Mapes, Marilynne Kinner and Rosemary Meier
Can you help identify this Derr family from Portland?
German-Russian Recipe books by Reuben Bauer
Listen as Jerry Schleining remembers the old Volga German neighborhood (139 MB MP3 file format)