Alexander P. Ankeny

Alexander Postlewaite Ankeny (November 6, 1823 – March 24, 1891) was an American pioneer businessman, soldier, and steamboat owner in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. He is chiefly remembered for having built the New Market Theater, a historic structure in Portland, Oregon.

Early life and family Ankeny was born in the Ligonier Valley, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, on November 6, 1823. In 1903, Levi Ankeny became a U.S. senator from the state of Washington. Randall, who apparently had the rank of Captain, was reported to have been killed in Indian country in July 1877. Smith's son by her first marriage, Levi, was adopted by Ankeny. Ankeny came to Oregon in the company of some boat builders. Col. Thomas R. Cornelius commanded the regiment. Spray ran for about a year until it was sold to the Oregon Steam Navigation Company (O.S.N.), which was forming a monopoly on steamer traffic on the Columbia. Ankeny is also reported to have run Independence on the route from Portland to the Cowlitz River in the Washington Territory.

Other businesses

In 1865, Ankeny was one of the five directors of a bank in Salem, Oregon. In 1872 to 1873, Ankeny built the New Market Theater in Portland, the first brick theater built in the city, at Front Street, between present-day Ash and Ankeny streets. In 1915, the theater was reported to have cost about $100,000. The company was formed to work mines which Ankeny had recently acquired in Josephine County, Oregon. The principal office and place of business would be in Portland. This was reported to have been the largest real estate sale by an individual in the history of Portland up to then. This happened in 1891, when, after the merger of Portland and East Portland, the streets were renamed.