The plaque on the front of the historic Sternberg House at 506 Ferry Street SW.
The so-called “Sternberg House” in downtown Albany is in the local news again, which made me ask myself: Who is this Sternberg?
The house is said to have been built in 1868. It is where current owners Angela Kelly and Sarah Soric hope to open a substance abuse treatment center.
They have organized as a nonprofit and are asking the city for a conditional use permit. The Albany Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on their application at 5:15 p.m. Monday, June 15, in the council chambers at City Hall.
A staff report on the application says the project qualifies as a community service and makes adaptive use of a historic structure. “The proposal protects, preserves, and utilizes an existing historic resource while ensuring its continued occupancy and maintenance,” the report says.
The report also says the house, at 506 Ferry St. SW, was on the market as a single-family home for a year, listed at more than $500,000. Â “Its failure to sell despite price reductions shows it was not viable as a single-family home.”
The current owners bought the house in May 2024 for $551,000.
Wondering about the house’s name, I turned to the archives of newspapers.com.
What I found there was the outline of a great American story of the 19th century, and it starts in a hamlet in western Germany, then part of Prussia and now the Saarland.
It is there, in the village of Sötern, where Moses Sternberg is born on July 10, 1836. As he grows up, he becomes acquainted with a boy three years older, Leon Senders, who is from the neighboring village of Bosen, about a mile and a half from Moses’ home.
I don’t know why, but when the two friends are in their twenties, or maybe a little younger, they decide to leave their homes and go to America.
Together, they somehow arrive in Missouri in the 1850s. But in 1861, they decide to head west, to Oregon. Sternberg first lives in Brownsville, then moves to Albany, where he and his friend run a general merchandise store, Senders & Sternberg.
In December 1880, the Albany Democrat runs a profile of their store, located on the northwest corner of First and Broadalbin Streets: “They carry an immense stock of dry goods, boots and shoes, groceries and clothing, and make a specialty of keeping every department of their business well stocked.”
The story has good things to say about the proprietors and their quarters, “a fine brick store 90×25 feet and large basement for storage.”
And the paper concludes: “Among our most solid citizens, Messrs. Senders and Sternberg speak encouragingly of Albany’s future, and are hopeful of her advancement to a thriving town.”
The partners run the business together until 1883. After that, Sternberg resumes business with his son Albert.
Albany newspapers of the era carry ads praising the suits you could at buy at their store. “Great Clearance at Sternberg’s” is a frequent two-line ad at at the bottom of the page.
On May 4, 1906, the Albany Democrat reports on Page 3:
“Moses Sternberg died yesterday morning at about 11 o’clock of apoplexy, at the age of 69 years. He got up as usual, attended to some small chores around his home, came down street, returned home, and was in his bedroom when suddenly at about 8:45 he was stricken with apoplexy. Drs. Stark, Wallace and Hill all arrived as soon as possible, but it was impossible to do anything. He had been subject to heart trouble for several years.”
Mr. Sternberg was survived by his wife and seven children.
“He was a kind husband and father,” the newspaper said. (hh)
This is an online photo of modern Soetern, the village in the Saarland of Germany where Moses Sternberg was born in 1836.
Nice article, Hasso. Thanks for sharing.
Jeff Senders writes comments in your blog sometimes, and he is a direct descendent, I’m sure, of the Senders man who was Sternberg’s partner. The Senders family had businesses in Albany for many years. My people on my mother’s side came to Linn County, Oregon by wagon over the Oregon Trail in 1852. One of my ancestors was the editor of the Portland, Oregon, Oregon Journal newspaper at one time. (I think it was the Journal, rather than the Oregonian.) He grew up in Albany. There’s a house plaque on one of the historic houses in Albany with my grandmother’s family name on it. There’s a lot of people still here whose history goes back to the era you just wrote about. Considering that we took the land from the Native Americans and through religion (we were very religious back then) thought God gave us “manifest destiny” to have the land, how this country came to be is not a point to brag about.
Great insights! My family on my father’s side came to Oregon in the 1860s. I consider us a pioneer family, though maybe technically that would be the 1830s-40s. My forebears have gravesites at the historic Orleans cemetery and the adjacent church, which Hasso has written about. They did not settle right in Albany but on the farmland off Riverside Dr.
Is that the corner that was Phil Small’s Clothing? If so the store carried on its tradition of being a place to buy a fine suit. I love hearing these stories about Albany’s history. Most will see the town for what it is today and not appreciate the significance of Albany in state and even national history. Albany was the primary commercial center in Oregon south of Portland, larger than Salem and certainly Eugene. As you have referenced in other stories, it was the confluence of the river boat and ferry docks, the rail station after about 1868 (when the house was built), even the Santiam canal and the timber and grain industries which utilized the canal. What is sad is that Albany lost much of its diverse manufacturing base. The city should work hard to get that back because manufacturing is what sustains a city.
Albany and the whole country will not see manufacturing facilities again to any large extent. (Factories here would be manned by A.I. robots, anyway.) . That era is over. The world pays people in Asian countries pennies a week to make “our stuff.” Clinton (Republican in Democrat’s clothing) started that with NAFTA with the blessing of all his Republican friends and conservative Democrats. Albany tried for a Pepsi processing plant; and that blew up in their faces. And, the County put in that huge crane north of town for loading containers onto rail cars. Not one, not even one, has been loaded. The whole thing is an embarrassment. That site and the huge crane should be put up for sale. My point being: Forget manufacturing for Albany.
My goodness what a sad case of regret. I for one amongst many am very proud of the heritage that was given to me by my family, pioneers and veterans. Far be from any of us who enjoy the benefits of our predecessors to judge if God did or did not give us the right to occupy this land. If any of us feel regret about our property rights I am sure that the people who run casinos in Oregon would be glad to take ownership of your property if that makes you feel better. I personally bought my property from the previous owner. Maybe if we were more relegious we might have a better understanding of our heritage. Sounds like the Sternbergs and Senders left a good and proud heritage. Thank you to all who came before us.
Oregon was founded, even in their territorial constitution, before they were a state, to be all white with no blacks, browns, or Orientals allowed to buy land. Catholics were not wanted, too. There was a very good article on Oregon’s history in the Democrat-Herald a few days ago, but you probably don’t read mainstream news.
I love it that the Native Americans are making money off the whites’ gambling addictions at their casinos. It is a form of justice happening.
Don’t mean to be picky Hasso but the first sentence in paragraph begins “In December 1980”. Didn’t you mean 1880?
Yes, 1880. Thanks. Correction made.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/148441158/moses-sternberg
Also of interest: the Sternbergs and Senders were key members of the Jewish community that had settled in the mid-valley. It was when Clara Senders, the infant daughter of Leon, died in December of 1877 that the Jews of the mid-valley became formally organized. This heartbreaking event was the catalyst. They established a formal Jewish faith community. Their first order of business was to create the Albany Hebrew Cemetery. Located on Old Salem Road, the cemetery at that time — and to this day — draws families from around the Willamette Valley. Their initial 1877 meetings were held at Senders & Sternberg Dry Goods. Moses died at home in 1906 and the funeral was held in same home where his children were born, parties were held and politics (and probably the Torah) debated. And where a new ‘first’ generation immigrant family found its wings.
Hasso, I thank you for your interest and kind words. I assume my great grandfather met his demise after opening his City of Albany water bill. Leon is buried in the family plot at Waverly Cemetery on Old Salem Road along with his wife Lona and son Albert (my grandfather). Also my future “resting place” but I don’t plan on moving in right away.
I remember my father (Berryman Price) mentioning that he worked for Al Sternberg in the 1930s at a saddlery&tannery. This was during the depression, money was tight and Sternberg issued currency printed on leather that was honored by Albany merchants.