MckenzieValleyMarket.com
Title
MCKENZIE VALLEY MARKET
Description
The McKenzie River Valley Market Company was formed in August 1995 at Blue River, Oregon. It is an expansion of a one-product line of leather goods designed by the founder, Daniel David Lewis Frommherz. The first pairs made by Mr. Frommherz were made in 1989 in a very loose company organization. All the products made up to that time were for friends who admired his original set.
Daniel has created the design of his product. He then markets and sells his products at local area festivals, mail order, road side rest areas and soon they will be introduced to customers on the Internet. He is interested in selecting franchised retailers with outlets where he would not create unfair competition against that market. The design has changed some but not much over the years since he started making copies of his grandfather's braces. The metal appointments on the hardware and functionally different designs for use by men, women and children have created the only visible difference. He created and plans to market a, "do it yourself kit", containing all the materials for each design in the near future.
Mr. Frommherz comes from a very long line of excellent leather workers dating back to the original expansion of our country even before the Revolutionary War with England. In Eleven generations the family built the barrels for tanning as Cordwainers. In several generations they sewed the leather into shoes and built the harness for the horses or oxen in moving west. In the Northeast generation upon generation expanded from Massachusetts in New England to the Hudson in New York. They were veterans of both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. The benefits gave them donation land claims first in New York then on to Ohio and eventually on land in Oregon. Once in Ohio they made shoes and Harness in preparation for the greatest migration on the Oregon Trail. In Oregon they tanned leather on Tanners Creek, which is now inner Southwest Portland at 21st and Burnside near the northwest corner of King's Hill. There the family created the first fashionable district for its citizens to call home then named it King's Hill. Mr. Frommherz's second great grand uncle made the statement "A Great City will be known for the quality of its parks", as he sold a portion of his original claim to the young city of Portland naming the area Washington Park. While most of the family returned to King's Valley in Benton County where they remain today, investments by the King family there caused the United States National Bank of Oregon to begin operation. The first sheriff of Benton County comes from this family. Solomon King owned two livery stables. One was located where Gill Coliseum on the Oregon State University Campus now stands. It was from this Livery stable that harness and tack were made for the benefit of the citizens of Corvallis, Lewisburg, Wren, Philomath, Belfountain, Alsea, and Monroe. Buyers came from afar to purchase the best products made from such high quality leather.
