Louis Gerlinger, Sr.

Louis Gerlinger Sr. (25 January 1853 – 9 June 1941) was a businessperson in the railroad and timber industries in the U.S. state of Oregon in the early 20th century.

Gerlinger became involved in the railroad business comparatively late in life. He was born in Weitersweiler, Alsace, in January 1853. At the age of 17, around the time Alsace was annexed by the German Empire, he came to the United States, settling in Chicago. He married and had three sons (George, Louis Jr., and Edward) and a daughter. He built a prosperous store and saloon fixture business.

At 41, Gerlinger left his comfortable, successful Chicago enterprise to move his family west. He settled in Portland, Oregon. Gerlinger was the proprietor from 1894 to 1897.

In 1896, Gerlinger organized and built the Portland, Vancouver and Yakima Railroad on behalf of the Harrimans.

Gerlinger died, at the age of 88 and after a long illness, in Portland on June 9, 1941.