World War I Draft Registration Card

Fifteenth Census, enumerated on April 9th, 1930 population; Washington State, Multnomah County, Portland 
N. Chris Splidsboel, head of household, owner of a house with a value of $11.000, 48 y old, 30 y old at first marriage, born in Denmark, immigrated in 1903, naturalized, owner of a restaurant
Johanna M. Splidsboel, wife, 42 y old, 24 y old at first marriage, born i Denmark, immigrated in 1891, naturalized
Wilma H. Splidsboel, daughter, 15 y old, single, born i Oregon
Lorraine A. Splidsboel, daughter, 13 y old, single, born i Oregon.

Niels C. Splidsboel died on August 16th 1949 in Portland [Oregon Dearth Index].

Johanne Marie Splidsboel visited Denmark in 1952. List of in-bound Passengers, Tourist Class from Gothenburg September 26th, 1952 on M/S Gripsholm arriving at port of New York October 6, 1952 Johanna Splidsboel, 3635 South East Clinton Ave, Portland, Oregon, 65 y old, married, born i Denmark, 4 pieces of handbags

Afskeden på kajen i Frederikshavn foran færgen til Gøteborg. Personerne var fra venstre: Kirsten Jensen, Jakob Jensen, Lisbeth Sanvig, Elma Splidsboel, Johanne Splidsboel, Poula Jensen, Jesper Jensen, Inger Sanvig og Jørgen Jensen

Johanna Marie Splidsboel died on July 27th, 1969, aged 87 y in Portland, Multnomah County [Oregon Dearth Index].

Chris Splidsboel - Valhalla.

An account of Danish Portland would not be complete without mentioning Valhalla - the popular saloon and restaurant owned by Chris Splidsboel and located at Third and Burnside Streets.

Valhalla was not just a place to buy another beer. A centrally located restaurant, it was also a meeting place for the Danish seamen, loggers, and longshoremen who came to eat good food, relax, and let off steam after a day of heavy work. And Splidsboel was more than a bartender. He served as banker, counselor, and father confessor for strangers and friends who met there. Loggers, having wages in their pockets, did not trust the banks and would deposit their money with "Chris" for safekeeping - afraid that it might "disappear" if they were "rolled" or became too tipsy to care. Kind-hearted and generous, he would often loan money to a needy fellow, open the "free lunch counter," or advertise, "Buy a sandwich and get a free beer."

In a long room, thirty-six feet wide and over one hundred feet long, the bar, with lunch counter on one side, extended the full length of the room. A large, painted mural hung above the bar depicting buffalo standing in a semi-circle gazing at a dead Indian with an arrow in his chest. Toward the back of the saloon was a separate room for card-playing - a favorite pastime.

Valhalla became a landmark, as Splidsboel, having bought it from Rasmus Petersen in 1912, owned and operated it for thirty years. Like his father, who had died before Chris left Denmark, and his uncle, Andreas Splidsboel, who came to Portland at an earlier date, Chris was a baker at first. For a time after he settled in the city he worked first for his uncle at Consumer' s Bakery, located on Twenty-first Street, then for several years at Log Cabin (Continental) Bakery, which eventually sold out to Wonder Bread.

Not long afterwards he became associated with Petersen in the saloon, and when Petersen died a few years later, Splidsboel became sole owner in 1912.

An article published in a Portland paper and found among his mernoirs describes well the popularity of Valhalla:

One may buy first class beer at only three pIaces. If all the rest closed up, these three pIaces would become famous and deservedly so, for the men who own and manage them know their business. They know good beer - how to keep it, how to draw and serve it. All the rest, we believe, are amateurs at the business and ought to be doing something else. . . We will name the three piaces, in order of their precedence.

The Valhalla, owned by Chris Splidsboel, near the corner of Third and Burnside. Chris and his bar men, Andy, Oscar, and Jack are past masters at the fine art ofhandling and serving beer. They have the advantage of thorough experience and matchless equipment. A glass of Blitz at the Valhalla is a real treat. The restaurant is excellent too. Good eats. You get your money's worth at prices to suit working men. Weinhard's Blitz is the best of all beers, by the way.

Eriksens, located across the street from the Valhalla, easily ranks second . . . and Dahl and Penny, at Second and Alder, ranks third . . . There is a science and artistry in the handling and serving of beer, best learned at the Valhalla.

Niels Christian Splidsboel, son of a miller, was born in 1881 at a place called Store Ryde Mølle, in Jutland, Denmark, where the mill, water wheel, and buildings are still standing (1982). He was confirmed in the Budolfi Cathedral in Aalborg. At the time his father died times were hard in Denmark, and Chris, a lad of nineteen, had to strike out for himself; so he migrated to the United States in 1900, settling in Portland, where his uncle Andreas lived.

He was married in 1911 to Johanna Munch, who was born also into a miller's family, in a small town called Mørke, near Aarhus, Denmark. At the age of three she came to the United States with her parents, her twin brother, Hans, a half brother, Niels, and half sister, Jennie.
Chris and Johanna Splidsboel, after living in several homes in southeast Portland, built a house on 37th and Clinton, where they raised their two daughters, Wilma and Lorraine.

Chris Splidsboel belonged to the Danish Brotherhood Lodge #167 and to Dania. Wilma remembers well the Danish Christmas parties she attended at Swiss Hall and Dania Hall.

In 1942 Splidsboel, in ill health, sold Valhalla, and it re mained open for four or five years after that. But the Danish befriender and bartender passed away in 1949. His wife survived him by twenty years.

Reference: Ingeborg Nielsen MacHaffie: Danish in Portland. Past and Present. 1982.

Niels Christian Splidsboel og Johanne Marie Munch i 1938
Wilma Splidsboel in 1938	Lorraine Anna Splidsboel in 1936

Web-editor: frode @ engbaek . com

Antal besøgende:

Sidst opdateret: 16. februar 2008