The Hop King, the Titanic, and the Secret History of 2181 NW Glisan
If you ever pass the bay-windowed apartment building at 2181 NW Glisan Street in Portland’s Nob Hill, stop for a second. Today, it’s a gorgeous brick courtyard complex with tiers of open balconies.
In the early 1900s, it was known as the Highland Court Apartments (then 711 Glisan). Behind its ornate cast-stone details lies a history connecting Oregon’s agricultural boom, Portland literary royalty, Prohibition busts, and the world’s most famous shipwreck.
The Rise of the “Hop King”
Born in 1870, Herman Klaber was a power player in the Pacific Northwest. As a partner in hop brokerage Klaber, Wolf & Netter, he helped drive the region’s agricultural empire. In 1906, he founded his own company town—Klaber, Washington—dubbing it the “Hops Capital of the World.”
By 1908, Klaber moved his headquarters to Portland. He maintained residences in San Francisco, Tacoma, and Portland with his wife and daughter, Bernice Janet (born in Portland in 1910). Klaber was so active across the region that he appeared twice on the 1910 U.S. Census—once with his family in Portland, and once in Tacoma with his widowed mother and hotelier brother-in-law.
Luxury Living in the Streetcar Era
In Portland, the Klabers lived at Highland Court.
During the early 1910s, Portland’s elite briefly embraced luxury streetcar-era apartment houses. Electrified and convenient, buildings like Highland Court offered modern living for the wealthy.
When Klaber died in 1912, probate records valued his Oregon property alone at $224,565, with a total net worth around $500,000 ($15+ million today). Yet his local base remained an apartment in Nob Hill.
The Fateful Maiden Voyage
In January 1912, Klaber sailed to London for a three-month business trip while his family stayed with friends in Sacramento.
He intentionally delayed his return trip to experience the maiden voyage of a new luxury liner. On April 10, 1912, Klaber boarded the RMS Titanic as a first-class passenger. Five days later, the ship sank. Klaber perished at age 41, and his body was never recovered.
Join us on a Woman of Nob Hill Walking Tour
Tragedy, Bootlegging, and Geek Love and learn how Highland Court remained a magnet for drama long after Klaber’s death:
- Tragedy (1914): Two years after the Titanic, Herman’s niece, Dorothy Danhauser, was murdered by a jilted lover.
- Prohibition Raid: The building was later the site of the largest Prohibition liquor bust in Oregon.
- Literary History: Decades later, it housed local historian Mike Ryerson and Katherine Dunn, author of the cult classic Geek Love.
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