USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Pomona Valley, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the valley who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 74
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JOSEPH SEVERNS DEHNEL
Among the lines of industry represented in Claremont is that of the Union Ice Plant. Joseph Severns Dehnel, the successful manager. of the Claremont branch of this company, was born in Mansfield, Ohio, September 11, 1890, and is the son of V. A. and Carolyn ( Rhodes) Dehnel. His mother is still living, and of her two children Joseph Severns is the youngest. He came to California with his par- ents in 1903, and completed his education in the grammar and high schools of San Diego. During the high school course he spent his sum- mer vacations in the employ of the company he now represents, having been with them for the past twelve years.
The Union Ice Company is the oldest of the companies of its kind in the state of California, and among the leaders in the cold storage and ice business, doing a large business in the precooling and icing of cars that carry fruit to the eastern markets.
The Claremont plant is among the most important and largest of its kind in Southern California and, besides the business in the Valley, they ship ice as far east as the Imperial Valley and north as far as into Utah and Nevada for the Pacific Fruit Exchange. They employ twelve men the year round in the Claremont branch, and thirty-five men during the busy season. Mr. Dehnel came to the Valley in 1911,
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and the wonderful expansion the plant has made in Claremont since he has been in charge of it is due mainly to his sagacious judgment, progressive ideas and efficient management.
Aside from the management of the ice company's business throughout Pomona Valley, Mr. Dehnel is interested in the firm of Booth & Dehnel, clothiers-the Home of Hart Shaffner & Marks- 234 West Second Street, Pomona, the leading clothing establishment in the Valley.
He chose for a wife Miss Mary E. Sutherland, to whom he was united November 9, 1911, and they are the parents of two daughters, Carolyn F. and Mary J. Politically Mr. Dehnel supports the prin- ciples of the Republican party, and in his religious convictions is a Baptist. Fraternally, he was made a Mason in Claremont Lodge, No. 436, F. & A. M., and is also a member of the B. P. O. Elks. He is secretary and a director of the Claremont Chamber of Commerce and doing active work in its behalf. He is an ardent lover of golf and is a member of Indian Hill Golf Club, which in turn is a member of the Southern California Golf Club, being chairman of the greens com- mittee of the local club. During the years of his residence at Clare- mont, all who know him have learned to appreciate the qualities of citizenship he displays in his interest in the advancement of Claremont and the Pomona Valley.
ALFRED I. McGANNON
What good marketing means to any town bidding for first-place consideration as a home center is handsomely demonstrated in the unique and first-class establishment of Alfred I. McGannon, known as the White House, and located at 120 East Second Street, Pomona. The consummation of an ideal- to create and maintain and to furnish only the best-the market has long since proven one of the first attrac- tions to those coming to town, and one of the memories held most dear by those going away.
Mr. McGannon was born in Johnson County, Kans., on April 23, 1873, and grew up in a farming district, where he attended the country schools. He learned meat cutting and the butcher business in Olathe, Kans., and he has followed the same line ever since. From Olathe he went to Kansas City, and there he worked as a meat cutter.
Coming to California in 1905, he located in Los Angeles, work- ing in the Park market at Fifth and Hill streets; and removing to Pomona, he entered the employ of A. C. Gerrard on West Second Street. With Mr. Gerrard as a partner, he conducted a meat market in Ontario, and from there they went to Santa Ana, where they carried on the same line of business for four years.
Returning to Pomona, Mr. McGannon became proprietor of the meat department in the White House Market at 120 East Second
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Street ; and there he has fitted up one of the most sanitary and most modern meat markets in the Pomona Valley. He has installed a large refrigerator, plate-glass show cases and many other things as practical as they are attractive and appealing to the eye ; and it is not surprising that he caters only to the best trade-a fact speaking volumes, since it is well known that the Pomona housewife is most exacting in the insistence on a high standard. This personal, intelligent, considerate attention to patrons, coupled with the offering of the best that the sea- son affords, in an environment pleasing to the purchaser, has naturally proven a great drawing card, and made the White House the market of markets for Pomona.
In 1898 and at Pomona, Mr. McGannon was married to Miss Annie J. Beatty, a native of Nebraska and the daughter of John M. Beatty, and one son has blessed the union, Howard T. McGannon. The family attend the First Methodist Church.
JOSEPH C. CLARKE
The office manager and salesman of the Opera Garage, at Po- mona, Cal., Joseph C. Clarke is a native of London, England, and was born April 7, 1885. He received a public school education and from the age of thirteen to seventeen followed the trade of brush finisher and maker in a brush factory at Whieldstone, England.
In 1902, at the age of seventeen, he sought a wider field for his talents and came to the United States. He became a student in the high school at Lysander, N. Y., and spent four years in that state, following the occupation of farming in the summer months. In the spring of 1906 he journeyed westward to the Pacific Slope and accepted a position with the Sugar Beet Factory at Chino, as assistant store- keeper. He retained the position three years, leaving it in 1907 tem- porarily to take a business course at Woodbury's Business College at Los Angeles. In 1910 he came to Pomona and became cashier for the Pomona Implement Company, remaining in the position a year and a half. He then entered the employ of L. W. Matthews in the pump and auto business, and when the Ranchers Manufacturing Company bought out the pump department he entered the employ of the Ranch- ers Manufacturing Company as salesman. He retained the position until the fall of 1911, when he became business manager for Osler and Matthews. He went east in 1915 and spent a year, and returned to California as credit man for the Osler-Racine Rubber Company. He spent thirteen months in Los Angeles, and in the spring of 1917 entered the employ of Lee R. Matthews in the Opera Garage at Pomona, as office manager and salesman, the position he now occupies. He is the owner of a fine ten-acre walnut ranch in the Ontario district, south of Narod. This place was formerly a peach orchard. After Mr. Clarke purchased it he planted it to walnuts, which will soon
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come into bearing. The place is highly developed and is a valuable piece of property.
His marriage united him with Miss Maude E. Coles of New York state, and they are the parents of a daughter named Marjorie. In his religious convictions Mr. Clarke is a member of the First Methodist Church, and fraternally he affiliates with the Pomona Lodge of I. O. O. F. He is highly esteemed among a large circle of friends for his many estimable qualities.
GEORGE W. MILLER
A most valuable man for Pomona and Pomona Valley, because he is unquestionably a thoroughly up-to-date expert in his line and, therefore, one sure to advance, from time to time, the science of his field, is George W. Miller, foreman of the mechanical department of the Pacific Electric Railroad at Pomona. He was born at Denver on April 7, 1882, the son of George W. Miller, a native of New York state, who married Christine Kennedy, a native of Glasgow, Scotland; and while still a child, he was taken to Yakima, Wash., where he ob- tained his first book instruction in the public schools.
When eighteen years of age, he located at Fresno and there entered the employ of the Fresno City Railroad Company, in whose service he held the positions of motorman, conductor and finally fore- man of the car barn, having charge of the barn and overhead lines. During this time, he pursued a course in mechanical construction, repair work, etc., in railroading offered by the famous International Corre- spondence School at Scranton, and in 1907 he resigned and located at Sausalito, Cal., where he engaged with the Northwestern Pacific Rail- road, to work in their repair department. He remained with that company until the fall of 1909, when he returned to Fresno, where he engaged in installing machinery in the various fruit-packing houses.
In the spring of 1911, Mr. Miller came to Los Angeles and ac- cepted a responsible post with the Pacific Electric Railroad, in the car repairing department. In the fall of the same year he was transferred to Riverside, as foreman of the mechanical department, and in 1912 he was sent to San Bernardino in the same capacity. In the spring of 1914, he came to his present position in Pomona.
Since his advent into this progressive and attractive city, and his display of ability and experience so valuable to the company which he represents, Mr. Miller has had a number of offers to change his loca- tion and take up work elsewhere ; but he loves Pomona, is loyal to the town to the extent of being one of its best "boosters," and he still stands by the ship in which he has already sailed many pleasant waters. Fraternally, he is a Woodman of the World; but he had no need to join that or any other organization to insure his popularity, for every- body who knows George Miller is glad to call him friend.
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HARVEY M. HANAWALT
There are few more inspiring examples of self-won success in the history of Pomona Valley than that furnished by the career of Harvey M. Hanawalt, the successful cement and concrete contractor, and one of the city trustees of La Verne. He was born on a farm near Johns- town, Pa., September 30, 1879, and was reared there, where he fol- lowed farming until he came to La Verne, Cal., in September, 1902. His father, George Hanawalt, born in Juniata County, Pa., was a minister of the Church of the Brethren and would ride over the moun- tains to his different charges, preaching gratis and farming for a living. While engaged in farming near Johnstown, Pa., he married Lucinda Stietzman. They came to La Verne in 1902, where he resided until his death in 1913 ; his widow survives him and resides at Burbank.
Harvey M. Hanawalt spent his early years on a farm and re- ceived a good education in the public schools. After his arrival at La Verne he attended Lordsburg (now La Verne) College for a time, paying his own way, and then engaged in the cement contracting and building business in La Verne. He began on a small scale, with a cement block machine, and though he was discouraged by others he persevered, and after securing his first contract he found himself on the road to success and since that time he has never been without a job. Mr. Hanawalt made a specialty of building cement reservoirs, in which work he was very successful, and it is to these splendid reservoirs, con- structed by him, that much of the credit is due in the development and increasing of the water supply of Pomona Valley. Mr. Hanawalt has built reservoirs at San Dimas, Glendora and Claremont. In addition to this work he has built miles of cement sidewalks and curbs in La Verne; constructed the Sixth Street roadway in Claremont; built the concrete bank building at Puente, and constructed practically all of the cement foundations for the fine homes built in recent years at La Verne.
Mr. Hanawalt has built for himself nine fireproof buildings in La Verne, all of which he sold except the old State Bank building, the Postoffice block and the Motor Inn Garage. To the list of buildings con- structed by Mr. Hanawalt must also be added the beautiful new ladies' dormitory of La Verne College. He is now building the second million and a half gallon reservoir for the Albert M. Stephens Company and is also paving Philadelphia Avenue in Pomona. He employs from fifteen to twenty men on reservoir construction, in which work he has made an enviable reputation. Besides this class of cement work he has engaged in the making of artificial stone and has thereby added much to the beauty of many of the fine homes in La Verne. There is scarce- ly a street in La Verne that has not been improved or beautified by his labors. In the fall of 1919 he formed a partnership with his brother, Samuel E. Hanawalt, in the contracting business.
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Mr. Hanawalt is highly esteemed by the citizens of La Verne and his election to the office of trustee was no surprise to his many friends, as it was a recognition of his sterling qualities as a progressive citizen. In the board of trustees he is chairman of the street and road com- mittee.
On September 29, at La Verne, Mr. Hanawalt was united in mar- riage with Miss Annie C. Nelson, a native of Indiana, who came to La Verne with her parents when she was six years of age. Her father, Clinton D. Nelson, of English and Irish descent, was born in Warren County, Ohio. He was one of the early settlers of La Verne, a well known contractor and builder who erected many houses there. Mrs. Nelson was Mary Kleine, born in Indiana, of an old Virginia family. While manager of the San Dimas Orange Exchange, Mr. Nelson in- stalled the first telephone in his home at La Verne. He and his wife now reside at Long Beach. Mrs. Hanawalt is a graduate of the acad- emic and commercial departments of La Verne College. Mr. and Mrs. Hanawalt are the parents of three children: Robert, Catherine and Nelson Ward.
SAMUEL M. FULTON
Whether Samuel M. Fulton, of Pomona, founder and secretary of the Pomona Manufacturing Company, is a descendant of the dis- tinguished Robert Fulton, who made the first practical application of steam to navigation, or not, the fact is undisputed that his invention of deep-well pumps is a valuable acquisition to the mechanical world and to all who employ the invention in pumping water from deep wells.
Mr. Fulton is a native of Dane County, Wis., and received his education in the public schools and business college at Madison, Wis. He was among the settlers of the '70s in California, and in May, 1877, located at Sacramento, Cal., where he became a teacher in the Sacra- mento Business College, retaining the position until 1881. From Sacramento he went to Galt, Sacramento County, where he was em- ployed as a bookkeeper for three years. In 1884 he formed a partner- ship with A. T. Ames, at Galt, and opened a machine shop. It was while in this business that he invented the Fulton pump, which is now in use all over the country for deep wells in irrigation systems. Mr. Fulton closed his business interests at Galt, and December 1, 1901, came to Pomona.
In 1902 he helped organize the Pomona Manufacturing Com- pany, the first and only plant of its kind in Pomona Valley. An old hay barn on East Bertie Street, near Parcelle, was its humble be- ginning. Later, more land was purchased and a modern factory erect- ed. It is now the largest plant in the world devoted to the manufac- ture of deep-well pumps. The United Iron Works of Kansas City,
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Mo., are the company's eastern agents. In addition to the manufacture of the Fulton deep-well pump the company also manufacture valves and pipes for irrigation purposes, and installs them in orchards and on alfalfa ranches. Three-fourths of the pumps used in Pomona Valley are supplied by this company, and Pomona is justly proud of this large and important industry. Mr. Fulton owns a finely improved six-acre ranch located just west of Ganesha Park and called Los Solana Rancho. This property was unimproved when he purchased it, and is planted to lemons, oranges and avocados.
Mr. Fulton's marriage united him with Miss Fannie L. Chase, a native of New York state. In his religious associations he is a member of the Congregational Church at Pomona, and fraternally affiliates with the Knights of Pythias.
THOMAS E. GORE
A citrus grower who was some time in finding the field of opera- tion for which he was best fitted, but who finally came to his present activity equipped with an enviable experience, is Thomas E. Gore, who was born on a farm in Mason County, Ill., on November 26, 1849, the son of Edwin Gore, born in Maryland, a farmer of wide repute in Illinois. He married Miss Jane Thompson, a native of Ireland, the daughter of Alexander M. and Jane Thompson, by whom he had nine children, among whom Thomas is the fourth in the order of birth.
Having been given the advantages of the rural schools and Jacksonville High and Lincoln University, Mr. Gore went in for teleg- raphy, and for six years was with the Western Union in Chicago and St. Louis. Then he entered the employ of the construction department of the Santa Fe in New Mexico, after which he returned to Illinois.
While in Menard County, that state, Mr. Gore was married to Phoebe Ann Pratt, a native of Mason County, and the daughter of George and Sarah Pratt, following which he took up farming in John- son County, Nebr., and continued in that line and locality for four years.
Returning to railroad work, he came to San Dimas, Cal., in 1887 and opened the railway station for Santa Fe. He liked the neighbor- hood so well that he remained five and a half years as the company's representative, and in the meantime he bought and improved his ranch. When the Southern Pacific came through and opened a station, he was their first agent and continued for twelve years. Switching off again, he retired to his ranch and made a success doubly sure of citrus grow- ing. His ranch is located one mile southwest of San Dimas and em- braces twelve acres of oranges and lemons. He is a member of both orange and lemon associations. All these years he has resided with his family in San Dimas.
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Four children and six grandchildren have given joy to Mr. and Mrs. Gore. Martha has become Mrs. J. W. Hough of Claremont; David is with his father; John E. is an educator and is principal of the high school at Orland; and Grace is at home. The family attend the Methodist Episcopal Church in San Dimas. In national politics Mr. Gore is a Republican, while his interest in civic advancement is dis- played through his activity in school board work.
BERTRAM W. GIBSON
Among the enterprising business men of Pomona, the possibilities of which city have called forth the most creditable ambitions of men who are destined to make their way in the commercial world, Bertram W. Gibson has met with a success which speaks well for his far-sighted business acumen and conservative judgment. A Canadian by birth, he was born in Toronto, Ontario, May 18, 1888. On finishing the public schools he took a high school course and also a first and second grade collegiate course in Toronto. On finishing his education his first busi- ness experience was in the freight office of the Grand Trunk Railway at Toronto, where he served as clerk for five years. He next engaged in the men's furnishing business with his brother-in-law.
In the fall of 1915 Mr. Gibson located in Pomona, where his sister had preceded him by a few years, and here he learned the trade of vulcanizer with Leslie Elliott and was in his employ until he enlisted in the World War. Finding that he was very low on the list to be called on conscription and fearing that he might not be called, he enlisted October 21, 1917, in the Canadian Royal Flying Squadron and was appointed corporal and stationed a great part of the time in training camps near Toronto; he later was detailed to drill and in- struct raw recruits in infantry drill, having squads of seventy-five men under him, and thus he served his country, doing the unexciting tasks set for him at home and finding his efforts to be transferred to overseas service of no avail, he did his duty as called upon until his discharge from service, January 16, 1919.
On his return to Pomona, in January, 1919, Mr. Gibson decided to go into business for himself, and on the twentieth of that same month he opened his vulcanizing shop and auto accessories supplies at Third and Thomas streets, and in the first ten months he doubled his business, a rapid advance even for these rapid times. He is district agent for the Racine tires, his territory embracing the Pomona Valley, and also carries a full line of Goodrich tires and of automobile ac- cessories.
Mr. Gibson takes an active part in both the business and social life of the community, and in fraternal circles he is a member of the Masons, both in Toronto and in Pomona, belonging to the chapter
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and council of that order; he is a member of the Knights of Pythias of Pomona, of the Yeomen of that city, and in business circles he is a member of the merchants' branch of the Pomona Chamber of Com- merce.
WILLIAM WRIGHT HAMILTON
The foreman of the packing plant of the Exchange Orange Products Company, at San Dimas, Cal., William Wright Hamilton, although but twenty-three years of age, has a thorough knowledge of the fruit-packing industry, and is well fitted for the important position he occupies. He was born at Galesburg, Ill., July 5, 1896, and received his preliminary education in the public schools. He was but sixteen when he came to Upland, San Bernardino County, Cal., in 1912, and was a student at the Chaffey Union high school. After graduation from the high school, he took a two years' pre-legal course at the University of Southern California, and upon returning to Up- land, entered the employ of the Mountain View Fruit Association in the shipping department. He accepted the position of foreman of the Exchange Orange Products Company at San Dimas, August, 1919, a position he held until October 15, 1919, when he was transferred to the Anaheim plant, where he has charge of the cost department and now makes his home in Anaheim.
In the past it has been a problem for orange growers and ship- pers as to the disposition of high-grade cull oranges,-fruit that has developed "puffy skin" because of ripening too rapidly through being forced by unseasonable hot weather and other causes, and which would not stand the long journey to the Eastern market, as well as fruit that has been damaged by being bruised in the orchard, either during cul- tivation, or, as sometimes happens even in sunny California, by hail. While such oranges will oftentimes heal over the bruise to the skin, they will not stand up for long shipments, although in other ways they are high-grade fruit. This problem has been solved by the manu- facture of marmalade from high-grade cull oranges. The process for making marmalade was purchased of Thomas Crawford, of Anaheim, by the California Fruit Growers Exchange, and the great selling organization that handles seventy per cent. of the citrus fruit of the state, originator of the "Sunkist" brand, has been making an unqual- ified success of the marmalade business. The Exchange Orange Prod- ucts Company is operated in conjunction with the San Dimas Mar- malade Factory, which is engaged in making orange marmalade from culls. Practically all of the associations that sell fruit to the California Fruit Growers Exchange are now selling culls to the Orange Products Company to be made into marmalade. As foreman of the plant, Mr. Hamilton met with as great a success as he made in athletics, in which
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he took an active part while in college. In 1917, he held the record for Southern California in hop, skip and jump, making a record of forty-two feet and eight and a half inches. He was a member of the 'Varsity foot ball team, and was elected a member of the "All Stars Foot Ball Team of California." Fraternally he holds membership in Upland Lodge No. 419, F. & A. M. Gifted with youth, energetic in disposition and ambitious, he is quick to see and take advantage of the door of opportunity when open, and his future is a promising one, for in twentieth century phraseology of the old adage, "Everything comes to him who works as he waits."
CHRISTOPHER H. GARRISON
The distinction of being next to the oldest contracting painter and decorator, in point of continuous service, in the Pomona Valley belongs to Christopher H. Garrison, and would speak volumes for itself were it not known that the long years in which he has added steadily to a valuable experience have developed talent of no small order. Second only to S. S. Becks of Pomona, in pioneer service here, Mr. Garrison started here in 1891. He is known by his friends as Senator Garrison ; and as he boasts of many admirers and standbys, his popularity is as wide as it is agreeable.
He was born at Paterson, Passaic County, N. J., on January 7, 1853, and after completing his education, took up the painter's trade with his father, Robt. B. Garrison, who was one of Paterson's leading contractors. In 1883, he removed to San Antonio, Texas, where he was soon doing excellent work and a large business as a contractor, but in 1891 he decided to come to California. Settling in Pomona, he continued his contract work; and among the many buildings he decorated are the Hooper Block, the American National Bank build- ing, and numerous fine residences.
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