Northwest Power and Conservation Council: Maryhill

In 1914 Hill started construction of his grand home on a bluff overlooking the river three miles west of the Maryhill community. The site is on the western edge of his 7,000-acre ranch. It was not completed in his lifetime. Planned as his “ranch house,” he never lived there and his, wife, for whom it is at least partly named, never saw it.

Maryhill the ranch house has been called absurdly grand and absurdly located. Hill was proud of it, though, and he commented once that he expected it to be standing a thousand years after he died, and it might be. Like the home he built on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle, Maryhill is built of thick concrete reinforced with steel. No wood was used in its construction. The structure is rectangular, with the long ends facing east and west. Long ramps lead up to the main floor on these ends, making the entire structure some 400 feet long. These were to permit guests arriving by car to literally drive into one side of the home, drop off passengers, and then exit the other side. The building itself is three stories tall, 60 by 93 feet, and 50 feet tall.

Maryhill Museum of Art: Marie, Queen of Romania

Queen Marie of Romania (1875-1938) was a friend of Sam Hill who presided over Maryhill Museum of Art's dedication ceremony on November 3, 1926. Her visit to the United States that year prompted a media frenzy and created a sensation in the Columbia River Gorge when the as-yet-unfinished museum was dedicated. The ceremony attracted a crowd of 2,000, including 400 area schoolchildren and an auto caravan that originated from Portland.

During her visit, Queen Marie delivered more than 100 works of art and personal items to the museum. Today, visitors to Maryhill can see paintings, Russian icons, manuscripts, and the gown Queen Marie wore to the 1896 coronation of her cousins Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra of Russia.

Northwest Power and Conservation Council: Maryhill

Hill told author Fred Lockley in 1915 that he chose the site for its scenic beauty and that he planned only “a good, comfortable and substantial farmhouse.” Probably he intended it to complement the Maryhill, and probably he envisioned lavish parties there. He did enjoy entertaining people.

Hill did not apply his usual frenetic energy to construction of Maryhill. He was preoccupied at the time with construction of the Gorge highway, and he was experiencing some financial difficulties with his Home Telephone Company in Portland. But in 1919 he sold the company to Bell, and his fortune improved. His plans for Maryhill were changing. That same year he reportedly offered it to the Belgian government — Sam was frequent international traveler — as a colonial outpost and a place to honor Belgium’s defense against a German invasion in 1914. If the offer actually was made, it was declined. By then he had decided, at the suggestion of his friend Loie Fuller, a dancer and artist of international fame, to make Maryhill a museum rather than a home. The museum was incorporated in 1923. Another of his friends, Queen Marie of Romania, dedicated the unfinished hulk of a building in November 1926 in a lavish ceremony. Time magazine, writing about the event, called Maryhill “Castle Nowhere,” and Hill its “prince.”

Cheri Dohnal, Columbia River Gorge: Natural Treasure on the Old Oregon Trail

... Samuel Hill envisioned Maryhill museum as a world-class facility, which is exactly what it was from the very beginning and remains so today. ...seemingly miles from anyone or anything of real importance, the museum's location was no accident. It was chosen by Bruxelles of the Beaux Arts of France and the name by Jules Jusserand. Erecting the museum directly across the river from the highway on the Oregon side allowed travelers to see the perfectly manicured grounds and the chateau standing alone in the wilderness, an oasis near the river. The museum would be filled with select pieces of art, clustered in a thematic fashion according to their origins. Hill's international contacts had already evoked promised donations from multiple cultures before the museum's doors ever opened.

"Meanwhile, some of Hill’s wealthy and influential friends, including Loie Fuller and Alma Spreckles, she of the sugar fortune, were working to secure art for his museum. These included sculptures by Auguste Rodin, a friend of both women. Fuller died in 1928 and Hill in 1931, but their legacy lives on in the work of Spreckles and others who contributed money and art to the museum, which eventually was finished (Time, reporting on Maryhill again, called it 'the world’s most isolated art museum.'). It opened to the public on May 13, 1940, Hill’s birthday, and remains in operation to this day."

Cheri Dohnal, Columbia River Gorge: Natural Treasure on the Old Oregon Trail

Queen Marie's portrait would be hung upon the wall beside that of King Albert of Belgium.

After the dedication ceremony, Queen Marie was scheduled to depart with Hill at the wheel of a luxury car, then meet up with Oregon Governor Walter M. Pierce at Celilo. From there, her entourage would be driven to The Dalles for a short curbside reception in her honor, then on to Portland where she, her children, and attendants would depart on the long journey home.

The queen's anticipated arrival aroused such a stir in The Dalles that the crowd was worked up to a fevered pitch by the time she arrived. The street had been marked off to keep the general public at bay while public officials and social organizations made brief presentations. The queen's vehicle was to pull up next to City Attorney Celia Gavin's vehicle, allowing Miss Gavin to make a short speech and present her highness with a token of the city's affections. It would follow with a quick parade of women and girls from various social clubs and orchards, the ladies handing an appropriate gift to the queen as they passed by. Lavish gift baskets had been made up, full of fruits, canned salmon, and other delicacies from the Gorge just for this purpose. Alas, the crowd began to break through the barriers even before Miss Gavin had a chance to begin her speech, although she did manage a short greeting for the royalty. Gift baskets were quickly brought forward from behind the queen's car. With the crowd bearing down, ever closer to Queen Marie, Sam Hill put the car into gear, honked his horn and hastily pulled away from the crowd as the band played on.

City Attorney Celia Gavin also played a role in another interesting story.

CLICK HERE for more information on Celia Gavin

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